Lutheran Social Services, Inc.

The Parrotts
Frank Newton, president and chief executive officer of the Beaumont Foundation of America, presents a $426,000 grant check to Betsy Guthrie, Lutheran Social Services Senior Vice President of Management and Program Support, Foster Care, Domestic and International Adoption .







 

 

 
 

Beaumont Foundation of America
awards $426,000 to clothe LSS foster children
Jan. 30, 2008

AUSTIN - The Beaumont Foundation of America (BFA) for the second year in a row has awarded Lutheran Social Services a grant providing school clothing for more than 1,400 children served by LSS throughout Texas. The $426,000 grant will benefit all children in LSS foster homes, as well as children served at three LSS residential treatment centers and a children's emergency shelter. The grant will provide a $300 clothing stipend per child for 2008, and will be disbursed in the fall and spring to defray costs for school clothing needs.

"The reason behind this gift is that foster children rarely get a chance to be involved in the selection of their own new clothing, which is a vital part of a child's identity," said Cecilia Blanford, grant director for Lutheran Social Services. "It is the Beaumont Foundation's wish to offer these children, who often find themselves in foster care because of abuse, neglect or loss, the opportunity to participate in something so many of us take for granted."

Established in 2001, the Beaumont Foundation of America was originally designed to support the use of technology to enhance and advance the lives of underserved individuals and populations. Its new mission is a continuation of its overall vision of helping those who are underserved throughout the country.

LSS cares for more than 1,450 children daily in its foster care program, including 180 children in residential treatment centers and up to 60 children at an emergency shelter.

"We are once again deeply grateful to the directors and staff of the Beaumont Foundation for this generous grant," said LSS Chief Executive Officer Kurt Senske. "So much of our work centers on rebuilding these children's lives toward normalcy. The opportunity for both foster children and their foster families to simply go shopping and make good choices about how they present themselves to the world is a major step towards a regular, healthy life."

Lutheran Social Services serves as the social service arm of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. LSS affiliated ministries serve more than 35,000 people in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, regardless of religious beliefs, ethnicity, gender or age. Its ministries include children's centers, therapeutic foster care, adoption, disaster response, emergency assistance, senior health care, retirement communities and adult day care.

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