| News and Events |
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Exciting events happen all the time at LCFS! Check here often for news, updates and inspiring stories about our organization and the people we serve.
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| Dr. Denise Berte Lends Expertise to New Book! |
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LCFS is proud to announce Dr. Denise Berte's inclusion in an important new multi-disciplinary text. Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees: Legal Issues, Clinical Skills and Advocacy is edited by Fernando Chang-Muy, the first director of the Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture and includes a chapter authored by Dr. Berte, who directs the Center currently. This comprehensive book teaches tactics for addressing immigrant issues in a social work framework. To learn more about this work, please click here.
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| LCFS Refugee Resettlement: Putting an End to Newcomer Employment Discrimination |
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The LCFS Refugee Resettlement recently received a funding award from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Special Council to disseminate information throughout Pennsylvania about fair employment practices under the US Immigration and Nationality Act INA) of 1952. Under this act, which prohibits employers from knowingly hiring undocumented workers, employers may not discriminate against work-eligible newcomers based on ethnicity or national origin. The DOJ’s Office of Special Council for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices was established by Congress to educate the public about immigration-related employment discrimination.
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| Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture is in the Women's Way Grantee Spotlight! |
Since 2001, Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, a Women's Way Community Women’s Fund grantee, has offered services to restore hope and provide healing to over 400 torture survivors, from over 45 countries, who currently reside in Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey. The Center offers survivors the opportunity to regain their sense of self-worth, renew their ability to enjoy life, openly express their fears and hopes and face the future with confidence. Click here to read the inspiring story of survivor Linette that Women's Way has featured on their website.
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| Four More at the Table |
Check out the article below for a truly inspiring story of a Burmese family of four that escaped persecution in their native Myanmar and have found a welcoming home in Lancaster. Thanks to the efforts of LCFS and others, the Hmung family is thriving in their new home.
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| Special Interpreter Visa Iraqis Urgently Need Your Help |
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Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), an affiliate of Liberty Lutheran Services, seeks congregations and individuals to assist Iraqi Interpreters with Special Interpreter Visa status (SIVs) who have fled to Philadelphia and other parts of the United States. The interpreters are being persecuted in Iraq for giving assistance to the American war effort. They arrive in the United States with little or no notice and with extremely limited resources. The SIVs are in desperate need of shelter, food and other assistance.
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| Adoption Story Not Just a Matter of Chance |
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Rich Gitlen, Executive Director of Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), an affiliate of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS) is pleased to announce the inclusion of Xu Xiaofeng’s adoption story in Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul, published by HCI. Xu Xiaofeng is an adorable and friendly child who had previously been on a waiting child list for nearly two years in a Chinese orphanage because he has albinism. Xu finally found “a family that was meant to be” halfway around the world when Pam McGonigle and John Stevens of Ardmore, Pennsylvania sought to adopt.
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| Lancaster Refugee Service Achieves Immigration Accreditation |
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Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), an affiliate of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS), is pleased to announce their recent Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accreditation for the Lutheran Refugee Services of Central Pennsylvania office, which was approved April 23 by the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Lutheran Social Services of South Central Pennsylvania, who partnered with LCFS to start this service, provided funding which enabled LCFS to lay the groundwork for this service, paying for staff time and immigration law trainings, an immigration law library, and immigration software needed for accreditation.
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| Washington Beacon Springs Into Peace! |
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Faith Willoughby, Director for the George Washington High School Beacon Center of Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), a division of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS), coordinated the first annual “Spring Into Peace” event on March 27th at George Washington High School. The celebration commemorated and remembered the 392 murders that occurred in Philadelphia during 2007. A white balloon was released for each victim.
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| Paul Robeson Chess Team Takes Gold at States! |
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Stacy MacMurray, Director for the Shaw Middle School Beacon Center of Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), a division of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS), is pleased to announce that the Paul Robeson Chess Team are the champions of the Pennsylvania K-12 Chess Championship Tournament. The eight member team won five trophies, including the award for “Top Club” at the tournament, held on March 8th and 9th in Carlisle, PA. The club was started over a year ago by Coach El Mekki and consists of middle and high school students from several area schools.
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| Local Missionaries Open New College Campus in Tanzania |
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Susan Pursch, Director of Church and Community Partnerships for Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), a division of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS), is pleased to announce the opening of the Sebastian Kolowa University College (SEKUCo) in Magamba, Tanzania.
The college came to fruition thanks to a partnership between the North Eastern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and the Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The College is part of Tumaini University, one of the Eastern African nation’s few universities.
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| Introducing the West Philadelphia Senior Community Center! |
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Rich Gitlen, Executive Director for Lutheran Children and Family Service (LCFS), a division of Liberty Lutheran Services (LLS), is proud to announce the opening of the new West Philadelphia Senior Center. The Center, made possible by funding and cooperative efforts between LCFS and the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging (PCA), hosted a grand opening and ribbon cutting event on October 3, 2007.
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