Please take a moment to look at our current LSS Southern California newsletter. In this edition you will read an article about our new President and CEO, Dr. LaSharnda Beckwith, and her plans and focus for the fall. In addition, there is an update from some of our service locations about issues relating to Covid-19, as well as a story...

Dr. La Sharnda Beckwith, President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services Southern California recently met with prominent women from across the country to discuss the intersectionality of systemic racism in our country and the growing disparities recent events have revealed. A community leader with a global perspective, Dr. Beckwith facilitated a respectful yet candid discussion on a number of wide-ranging...

For over 70 years, Lutheran Social Services has reached out to those on the margins of society: men, women and children with no home in which to live, no food to eat, no clean clothes to wear, no work to earn a living, and no reason to think today will be any different from yesterday. But there is another population...

Guadalupe, a single mom, lived with her three children in their apartment.  She tried to provide her young ones with everything they needed, and spent as much time as possible being a caring mother.  The children’s father had visitation with them every other weekend.     Lupe worked a night shift, and the father kept them during the evening hours,...

Felix came to the LSS office in Garden Grove. We gave him food and clothing and helped him pay for a storage locker for the next 30 days.  Everything he owned was in storage, and without money to pay the rent, all his possessions would have been sold at auction.     It was really a bad time for him. ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Veteran Executive Becomes First African American CEO to Lead Venerable Institution FULLERTON, Calif. – The Board of Directors of Lutheran Social Services Southern California (LSSSC), today announced the appointment of Dr. LaSharnda Beckwith as President and CEO of LSS Southern California. Dr. Beckwith becomes the first African American CEO in the agency’s 75-year history. Beckwith joins the...

Carla’s life had consisted of one disaster after another. She grew up in foster care, and struggled with mental health issues from her early childhood. By the time she was 35, she had four children between the ages of four and ten, all of who had special mental health needs. She couldn’t find a job, and if she had, there...

Sol is an 18-year-old high school graduate who attends San Diego State University. Her mom and dad came to the United States from Mexico, and she was born in California. Her parents have no formal education, but her mother wanted her four daughters to have a better life than she and her father had. Spanish was the only language spoken...

Lutheran Social Services has operated the Cathy Hopper Clairemont Friendship Center since 2017. The facility is owned by the city of San Diego, and LSS has a 20-year lease. We offer a combination of programs and services to people over 55 years of age:   Nutrition:  Lunches are offered in a congregate meal setting, along with a variety of informational...

Jessica and her mother never had a permanent mailing address.  Jessica's father abused her mom, whose lack of education made it impossible to find substantive employment. As a result, the two of them—mother and daughter—moved from one city to another, from one state to another, running away from abuse. On a hot summer day, they came into our local Lutheran...