The Children’s Community Services (CCS) and Behavioral Health Services (BHS) teams at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) are helping students across the state have a great start to the new school year.
- The annual backpack drive at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Charles for students supported by the LSSI Foster Care Program in Aurora was a great success. Congregants donated 166 backpacks with school supplies and raised over $1,000 to support students in foster care.
- The Chicago/Augustana Foster Care Program team joined Orland Park Recreation’s Back-to-School Celebration. The event was an ideal way to build awareness of the program, start conversations with potential foster parents, share valuable resources, and make sure every child departed with joy in their heart and a backpack full of school supplies.
- LSSI counselors in the Step-Up School-Based Counseling Program in Chicago held an end-of-summer celebration to gear up for the new school year. They created vision boards and collected school supplies for their students. Step-Up provides support to students in 60 Chicago Public Schools, working closely with teachers, guardians, primary care physicians, and other therapists to provide support to students during school hours.
“We are deeply grateful to our community partners for supporting the needs of our youth year after year,” said Hannah Nelson, a Child Welfare Resource Supervisor in Marion. “Our work and the lives of our children would not be the same without their continued contributions.”
The back-to-school spirit in the LSSI community wasn’t only about school supplies for students. Following are more examples of LSSI’s mission in action at the start of the school year:
- For a second year, the Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services (CCBYS) team in Nachusa joined approximately 20 other youth-oriented organizations for the Oregon School District back-to-school event. Attracting about 300 guests, the event was a perfect opportunity for the CCBYS team to share information on its work with youth to prevent police, court, or DCFS involvement and distribute information on the program.
- The Prevention Services Team in Dixon participated in a Tools for School event there, and National Night Out events in Whiteside, Lee, and Ogle Counties.
- The twelfth episode of Coffee Break with Melissa, a podcast series created by the Foster Care Program in Rockford, featured an educational liaison sharing how LSSI helps foster parents navigate the school system and provides a wide range of support—supplying school supplies for students, helping with forms, advice on behavioral issues, and more.
