April 2004

Being the President/CEO of LSS requires that I look two ways at all times. One is toward the outside, examining what is happening in our world and what implications may be there for LSS and our mission. The other is an internal look, turning the lens toward our own programs, people and procedures so that we may give appropriate management and resource attention to the areas of promise and peril.  Click here to learn more!

Angie Mateski was 16 years old and a junior at the Willmar Senior High School when she gave birth to a baby boy. Gutsy and determined, she battled the embarrassment she felt she'd brought to her family and graduated from high school. To help achieve her goal of being legally independent, Mateski was told to attend a support group called "Community Teen Moms."  Click here to read more!

This year, more than 130 youth living on the streets in the Twin Cities will be able to find emergency shelter, safety, meals and counseling support with the re-opening of Lutheran Social Service's Safe House in St. Paul on January 31.  Click here to read more!

At the 2003 Northeastern Minnesota ELCA Synod Assembly, voting members agreed to work with LSS in a campaign, now called "Safe Homes, Hopeful Futures," to raise $56,000 by June 2004. The goal of the campaign is to replace state funding for LSS Renaissance and Street Outreach programs lost by action of the 2003 state legislature.  Click here to learn more!

In the afternoon of March 11, before the LSS Board of Directors met for its quarterly meeting, some of the Directors and guests were able to tour LSS sites that offer services for youth in the St. Paul area. One group visited LSS LifeHaven, a residence for homeless teen moms and their babies, located in St. Paul. Mary Ella Pratte, LSS Major Gifts Officer, said that the staff, the program components and the overall atmosphere they found made a strong impression on everyone.  Click here to read more!

The Sebeka meals-on-wheels program had a problem. The faithful senior volunteers who had delivered meals for years were finding it more difficult to run the meals from their cars to the homebound seniors' homes, but they were more than willing to drive the delivery car. What they needed were younger legs to complete that stage of the delivery.  Click here to find out more!

The Board of Directors, at its quarterly meeting in March, approved the Servant of Christ Award nominations.  Click here to learn more!

The December issue of Changing Lives contained a questionnaire that asked readers a number of questions relative to this publication and its content. We wanted to learn what we were doing correctly, and what parts of our publication we should consider changing.  Click here to read more!

Most people don't consider doing their taxes a moving experience, but Aaron Griga knows that it can be. Aaron is a volunteer at the Faith in the City Tax Clinic, which is hosted by LSS every Tuesday from February 3 to April 13, at the LSS offices, 2414 Park Avenue, in Minneapolis.  Click here to find out more!

It's hard to imagine being a homeless teenager in northern Minnesota in the winter, but the youth group from First Lutheran Church in Aitkin knows exactly how it feels. Since 1998, the First Lutheran youth group has held "Operation Homeless," an annual event to raise money for the homeless. Click here to find out more!

News from LSS activities throughout Minnesota. Click here for some of the highlights!