Changing Lives Today
More and more adoptees and birth parents are finding each other using DNA.
This time of year is definitely a time of change. Kids are back in school. Maybe they’ve just headed off to college. Football season has begun. Perhaps a new career for recent graduates. Oh yeah, and if you finished attending college this last spring, your first student loan payment is coming due at any time […]
As I sat in on the advanced level English class, the instructor was teaching about laughter. Tonight would be her last day of classes, and she informed the students that she wanted to end on a happy note. Laughter indeed makes life better. Laughter helps us feel happy, it helps us be healthier. Laughter helps […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Lindy Obach, ESL Instructor
I always knew I wanted to be an English teacher – always. So you can probably guess that one of my most favorite places in the world is a public library. Whenever I […]
LSS Development & Foundation
Tonya Jackson, Assistant
You may have heard us describe the LSS mission as a ministry of presence. But what exactly does that mean? Our programs are designed to meet people where they are in life – without judgment, to provide hope and healing, and to offer a chance for them to change their future. But the truth is […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Tim Jurgens, Director
At the Center for New Americans, we work exceptionally hard to make sure our students feel welcome in our school, but we also work to make sure they feel welcome in the community. A great way to accomplish this is to take a field trip! Because our little school is downtown, we are within walking […]
LSS Adoption & Pregnancy Counseling Services
Joyce Twite, Administrative Support Specialist
The goal is for the client to feel good about their plan, whatever that plan may be. And the best part about a Pregnancy Counselor is that their help is FREE!
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
I don’t think it’s any secret that there are a lot of differences in America. But that’s a very deep conversation that we are not going to have here and now. Instead, I want to talk about something that many, many Americans have in common. A value of independence. For a long, long time, the […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Heather Glidewell, ESL InstructorHeather Glidewell, ESL Instructor
Community support is vital to our success. Recently the Black Hills Federal Credit Union chose to lend a helping hand and support our English program here at the Center for New Americans. A donation of $1800.00 was given towards the purchase of much needed document readers in our classrooms, and with this donation, we were […]
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
August 19th. August 26th. August 27th. August 28th. What do all of these dates have in common? These are the dates that our local colleges and universities start their 2019 Fall Term. It’s that time of year again when you will see the great migration. Students are excited about moving to college. Moms are crying […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Lindy Obach, ESL Instructor
The LSS Center for New Americans and area business Grand Prairie Foods have had a special relationship for many years now: many CNA clients and students find productive and gainful employment with this wonderful company. Recently, Grand Prairie Foods Owner and Vice President Val Loudenback and Education Program Coordinator Laura Smith-Hill collaborated on a way […]
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
We’ve been talking a lot about finances in the family lately. It’s important to help our kids learn about money. We can talk all day about concepts and their importance for later in life. That’s all fine and dandy. But how do we get there? What are we even supposed to do with this information? […]
LSS Mentoring Services
Michelle Madsen, Director
Sue and Bonnie have been matched in the LSS Better Together Program for one year and four months. Bonnie moved to Sioux Falls in 1999 from Winner, SD, where she was a teacher for 28 years. Sue moved to Sioux Falls from the Renner area five years ago. Sue joined Better Together for socialization and […]
LSS Mentoring Services
Michelle Madsen, Director
I love this time of year. Cooler temperatures are just around the corner, school resumes in the coming weeks, fall decor has taken over Hobby Lobby and so much more! At LSS Mentoring Services, this is the time of year when most people start volunteering. It’s the busiest time of year, but the best because […]
KSFY NEWS, Sioux Falls -- Making new friends can sometimes be tough especially if you're older. Maybe your friends and family aren't nearby or maybe they've passed on. There is a program in Sioux Falls designed to meet this specific need of pairing people up who could use some time with a friend---LSS Better Together.
LSS Mentoring Services
Michelle Madsen, Director
Nearly every Thursday, you could find Kyle Beck eating lunch with Max, a soon-to-be 4th grader at RF Pettigrew Elementary. Kyle, who has young children of his own and works full time at Daktronics as a Project Manager, enjoys mentoring at Pettigrew. “I really like being part of the school community here. The staff here […]
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
Let me tell you about a college student I had in a class once. At the end of class, nearly everyone had left except for one student. The way they held back, I knew there was a conversation coming. Once the other students left, they finally approached me and said, “I have a problem I […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Lindy Obach, ESL Instructor
Teacher Carol is our resident STEP class teacher here at the Center for New Americans. STEP classes, or Skills That Employ People classes, are offered once or twice a month and range in everything from intro to patient care to housekeeping. In June, the class was all about general manufacturing, where students learned the […]
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
Family vacations. They can be a ton of fun and make memories that last a lifetime. I can still get sentimental about my own childhood vacations and those were a while ago (a long, long, long time ago if you ask my kids). Sometimes, though, those memories can also come with a cost. It […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Heather Glidewell, ESL InstructorHeather Glidewell, ESL Instructor
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a total of 22,491 refugees came to the United States in 2018, and the largest number of refugees came from the countries of Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine, Bhutan, and Eritrea. It goes without saying that the main languages of these countries are not English but rather Congolese, French, Kayah, […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Lindy Obach, ESL Instructor
The advanced speaking classes at the Center for New Americans recently took advantage of both this beautiful weather AND the opportunity to see the newest, coolest (and did I mention FREE) sight Sioux Falls has to offer: The Levitt Shell at the Falls! Teachers Amy and Lindy, along with wonderful volunteer, Teacher Karen, and their […]
LSS Mentoring Services
Michelle Madsen, Director
LSS Mentoring will expand to Flandreau Middle School in 2019-2020.
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
As we reach the tail end of National Home Ownership Month (also known as ‘June’), I thought maybe it would be appropriate to talk about the ways to end ownership of your home. Hey, all good things must come to an end, right? Sometimes the end is by our choice. Sometimes we don’t have a […]
LSS Mentoring Services
Michelle Madsen, Director
One question that we are often asked is how can mentoring make a difference? Anecdotal stories abound, and we love to hear those. But we also like to see the impact in numbers. Every year, LSS asks mentors to assess their students progress in nine areas – grades, interest in school, school attendance, behavior, self-esteem, […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Lindy Obach, ESL Instructor
We’re in the business of helping people. Recently, The Center for New Americans has been able to provide resources, career coaching, and job skills classes to refugee student populations in Sioux Falls through a new program called RISE, which helps its participants in overcoming barriers to skilled employment or higher ed. CNA teachers and job […]
LSS Center for Financial Resources
Breck Miller, Community Relations Coordinator
June is National Home Ownership Month. That’s a mouthful in and of itself. If you read deeper, however, I think it’s a pretty loaded phrase. Look at just one of the words – ‘home’. How would you define home? Traditionally, it is the single-family home with a white picket fence. Yeah, you know the kind. […]
LSS Center for New Americans
Heather Glidewell, ESL Instructor
Here are a few more tips I learned from my students over the past couple of months while discussing health care. Home Stomachache Remedies Stomachaches plague both the young and old. Perhaps we eat the wrong food or catch a nasty bug. Maybe we are just stressed out. Regardless, dealing with a stomachache can […]
Depression and its symptoms can be difficult to identify. With counseling from Lutheran Social Services, you can have a better life.
Lutheran Social Services is licensed in South Dakota to help you determine if adoption is right for you. We’re here with adoption services to assist in every step of this important process.
Lutheran Social Services offers pregnancy counseling for those considering choosing adoption. We support birth mothers, birth fathers, and children throughout the entire process.
LSS Adoption & Pregnancy Counseling Services
Joyce Twite, Administrative Support Specialist
The day before Mother’s Day is recognized as Birth Mother’s Day (May 11, 2019). Here are ten of the ten thousand things birth mothers want the world to know.
