Lutheran Social Services of South Central Pennsylvania history

Earlier, with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the availability of cheap land many people began migrating to Michigan.

Michigan Lutheran.” Within two days of landing in 1833, he was preaching and baptizing, holding his first services in Detroit at a carpenter’s shop run by John Haik – a site now occupied by Ford Auditorium in the city’s downtown.

1865 — LSS traces its history to 1865 when Vasa Lutheran Church, near Red Wing, MN, opened its doors to care for orphaned Swedish children.

1889 — Children’s Home began when Reverend E.P. Savage established Children’s Aid Society of Minnesota in St Paul.

1898 - Wild Rice Children's Home, Twin Valley

1905 - Lutheran Inner Mission Society

1906 - Luther House opens in Minneapolis to house young, rural women coming to the Twin Cities for employment.

Congregational outreach efforts came together in 1909 in the Missionsbund (Mission Federation), a group dedicated to “inner mission” (social service) work.

1913 - First Lutheran Kindergarten and Day Care, Minneapolis

The Beginning: It was not the most auspicious start for the new City Missionary to Detroit when the Reverend Martin Luther Frederick arrived in 1919 from his former pastorate in Luckey, Ohio.

By 1920, the population had reached two million due to the auto companies building factories and the growing industrialization of the area.

Schaffnit organized the Toledo Society in 1921.

The 1924 incorporation papers for the Inner Mission League of Detroit make clear that the thrust was to serve Lutherans and promote Lutheranism, but he reached out to everyone.

1927 - Lutheran Inner Mission Society becomes Lutheran Welfare Society.

The number needing help grew greater after the 1929 economic crash.

These were in German — written in a distinctive script hand until 1930 when English was used for the first time with the notation that the board agreed future meetings would be conducted in that language.

Background: Because of the growing needs and the realization that volunteers could not respond to all the requests for help, the Missionsbund became the Lutheran Inner Mission League of Detroit in 1934.

At the annual meeting in 1935 the League became Lutheran Charities, its name for 25 years, a name suggested by the League’s first superintendent, the Rev.

He and his wife, Mary Dorothy, are buried in Gethesemane Cemetery in Detroit. It was requested that people help him in “…labors that are more than any one man can possibly accomplish.” After 18 years of dedicated service, Fredrick died in 1937 at age 62 after suffering for six months with stomach cancer.

An open house introducing that new center was held on a memorable date — December 7, 1941.

1945 - Lutheran Welfare Society opens first District Office in Fergus Falls.

Schaffnit stayed at Lutheran Charities until 1946 when he took a leave of absence to work abroad with Lutheran World Relief (LWR) to help displaced persons.

He returned to Detroit briefly before resigning to become promotional secretary of LWR. Then in 1950 he became executive director of the Great Plains Lutheran Hospital Association in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1954 - Vasa Children's Home begins serving children and youth with developmental disabilities in residential care.

Children’s Home first begins its “Baby from Abroad” program placing over 600 children by 1955.

Lutheran Welfare Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania began in 1956 when representatives from 36 regional Lutheran congregations met to establish a residential facility for the elderly.

1958 - LSS opens new Minneapolis Office at 24th and Park Avenue.

The vote to become a statewide agency occurred May 25, 1959 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing, Michigan when representatives of seven synods voted overwhelmingly to cooperate in the ministry of Lutheran Social Services of Michigan (LSSM) for the lower-peninsula.

1969 - Lutheran Children's Friend Society merges into Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota, bringing all Lutheran child welfare services under LSS.

He eventually returned to Detroit, spending his last days here before his death at age 80 in 1973, the same year Carl Thomas became LSSM president.

In 1974, Lutheran Welfare Service purchased the Hilltop Manor Convalescent Center and relocated to the new site, to be known as The Manor at Saint Luke Village.

1976 - First LSS residential home opens in Bloomington to serve adults with developmental disabilities.

1980 - Street outreach launches to serve youth experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities.

1984 - Housing information service opens in Minneapolis to serve newly emerging families experiencing homelessness.

1987 - LSS launches financial counseling to help Minnesotans struggling with credit card debt.

Schaffnit’s wife, Martha, died in 1988 at the age of 101. “He never planned to retire but health reasons forced him to.” What Rev.

1996 - Phillips Park Initiative, of which LSS is a founding member, gets approval from the City of Minneapolis to redevelop a four-block area near 2400 Park Avenue in Minneapolis.

In 1997, Lutheran Welfare Service affiliated with The Lutheran Home at Topton to form Lutheran Services Northeast, which on Jan.

1, 2000, affiliated with Tressler Lutheran Services to create Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries.

2001 - Second transitional housing service opens for youth experiencing homelessness in Duluth.

Residential senior-housing accommodations were also added (in 2005, these health care centers, as well as the small senior-housing community, were sold to another organization).

Blom, P. (2006). God in the raging waters: Stories of love and service following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

2008 - LSS successfully completes a $27 million capital campaign to open the Center for Changing Lives in Minneapolis.

2013 - Five provider partners join forces with LSS to create an Accountable Care Organization to support people with disabilities in living a “My Life, My Choices” life in lower-intensity settings in the community, lowering the cost to taxpayers.

2014 - LSS' affiliation with the Children’s Home Society goes deeper with consolidated financial results and adoption operations.

2016 - LSS launched Neighbor to Neighbor Companions, a new private-pay service that helps older adults continue to live safely in their homes.