Village Lutheran Church Partners
with Lutheran Social Services NY

On Sunday, October 2nd, Village Lutheran Church welcomed Diana Portilla and Ramon Abarro from their partner organization, Lutheran Social Services of New York (LSS-NY), to their 9:00am service. They shared information about the Safe Haven Program for unaccompanied minors and how LSS-NY provides shelter, education, and care as they assist in uniting them with family.

Safe Haven for Children, a foster care program in the Bronx, supports unaccompanied minors who arrive on the border. They provide shelter, education, recreation, and healthcare until these children are permanently paired with a relative or foster family. According to Program Director Diana Portillo, “These kids love to run and enjoy soccer and basketball. There is an on-going need to replace sneakers. Their daily school curriculum includes the use of Amazon Fire Tablets.” The tablets are integral to their education in the Safe Haven School. Each evening the children take the tablets to their foster home for continued study. Once placed with a permanent family, the tablet goes with them.

In the month leading up to the service, members of Village Lutheran Church were asked to make a monetary donation or a donation of children’s sneakers. At the service a check for $5,000 was presented to support this ministry. “A heartfelt thank you to the many generous VLC/TCS individuals, as well as Thrivent, who donated to the Sneakers & Amazon Educational Tablets Campaign.”

Village Lutheran Church and The Chapel School is located on 172 White Plains Road in Bronxville.