[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18045]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  COMMEMORATING LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF MICHIGAN FOR 70 YEARS OF 
                   SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE OF MICHIGAN

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I, 
along with my esteemed colleague Senator Stabenow, congratulate 
Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, LSSM, on its 70th anniversary. We 
are delighted to recognize LSSM's impressive history of compassion and 
good will in Michigan. We would also like to recognize and honor LSSM's 
staff and volunteers for their tireless efforts and outstanding 
commitment to helping those in need.
  LSSM's legacy of service dates back to the early years of the 20th 
century when the Lutheran churches in Detroit formed the Missionsbund, 
a society dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance in Detroit. 
The Lutheran Inner Mission League of Greater Detroit grew out of this 
effort and was soon thereafter called the Lutheran Charities and 
formally incorporated in 1934. Under the leadership of its first 
executive director, the Rev. Carl E. Schaffnit, its efforts included 
child welfare work, a settlement house, and services to the elderly. By 
1959 Lutheran Charities gained a new name, the Lutheran Social Services 
of Michigan, and has since expanded its mission to serve others in the 
name of faith with 80 programs in 44 cities throughout Michigan's lower 
peninsula.
  Over 20,000 people from diverse backgrounds feel the warm embrace of 
LSSM on an annual basis by utilizing the many services it has to offer. 
LSSM's excellence can be seen by the success of its programs in the 
realm of foster care, adoption, childcare, subsidized housing, nursing 
homes, community centers, and services to the homeless, refugees, and 
persons with developmental disabilities. Its efforts to preserve and 
enhance human dignity across Michigan have created hope for so many. We 
share this organization's vision for a community that upholds human 
dignity, decries complacency and affirms equality and justice. We are 
sure that our Senate colleagues will join us in offering our heartfelt 
congratulations for this long and outstanding record of 
achievement.

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