With the fall school season upon us, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) is seeking volunteers statewide for its Foster Grandparent service to offer guidance and encouragement to children and youth in the community. Foster Grandparent volunteers are older adults who traditionally offer one-to-one mentoring in the classroom and other settings to children and youth who may be experiencing academic or social challenges.

It started as a question. When committee members who have overseen construction of a commercial kitchen at Zion Lutheran Church talk about the project, they say it all started with a question about food service needs at Kids of the Kingdom, the child care center based at the church.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES, suspended payments for all federally held student loans. Interest rates on all federal student loans also were reduced to zero. That pause in payments and interest rate was initially scheduled to expire on September 30, 2020, but it has been extended to January 31, 2022.

On a living room wall in Ron and Jane Brown's St. Cloud home, a decal bears witness to a sentiment the couple has been living out for more than four decades: 

"Children deepen the heart of a home."

And on the side of a Little Free Library in front of their home are the words "Every child is a story yet to be told."

Ron and Jane would know.

Camp Knutson’s beautiful 30-acre campus is nestled between the pristine waters of Lower Whitefish and Big Trout lakes. The very tip of the point where the channel connects the two lakes has a significant amount of erosion due to storms, ice, boat traffic, and wave action.