Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska Celebrates 125 Years
Honors Three Couples Who Serve and Care for Others
Author and Keynote Speaker Recounts a Childhood in Foster Care and His Search for “Family”

OMAHA, Neb. (September 8, 2017) – Three couples will receive recognition for their caring service to others at Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska’s (LFS) “Faith in Action” event on Saturday, September 23 at 5 p.m. at Embassy Suites, 12520 Westport Parkway in La Vista.

This year’s annual event is celebrating “125 Years of Expressing God’s Love for All People.” Two special awards will be presented for the first time. The Trinity Award and the Immanuel Award recognize the two Lutheran orphanages in Fremont and Omaha, which began 125 years of LFS human care for children and families.

• Coyner and Donna Smith will receive the 2017 Douglas E. Parrott Faith in Action Award for a lifetime of commitment to “welcoming the stranger” with their generous gifts of time, talent and financial resources. The Smiths stepped forward with sizeable financial support to sustain the LFS refugee resettlement program, the largest in Nebraska, and keep trained staff on board to serve.
• Greg and Nancy Thrasher will be recognized with the Trinity Award for extraordinary generosity and faith-filled servant leadership to serve “the least of these” in LFS programs, including support for RSafe® which serves families impacted by child sexual abuse, the Centers for Healthy Families, and by hiring and supporting refugees.
• Terry and Linda McClain will accept the Immanuel Award for providing visionary leadership galvanizing community support for the Rupert Dunklau Center for Healthy Families® in Fremont, an early intervention and prevention parenting program for pregnant mothers and families with preschool children. Together they have provided community-based philanthropic leadership, as well as their own volunteerism, including mentorship of young parents enrolled in the program.

The event’s keynote speaker, author Steve Pemberton, is all too familiar with the challenges faced by the children, adults and families who find hope at LFS. The Chief Diversity Officer and Divisional Vice President of Walgreens is the author of A Chance in the World: An Orphan Boy, a Mysterious Past and How He Found a Place Called Home which recounts his painful childhood in foster care. Taken from his mother at the age of three, Pemberton ended up in the foster care system and spent many years with a family that neglected his well-being. The kind gesture of a neighbor proved to be a life-changing event that fostered his love of reading, and provided temporary escape from his foster family’s cruelty. It ultimately fueled an academic career that led him to independence and success. Pemberton will recount his story of escape and his long journey to locate “family.” His story will soon be the focus of a major motion picture.

To register or for more information on the event, please call 402-591-5063 or visit LFSNeb.org/events/celebrating-125-years-faith-action. Tickets are $50.

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About Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc.

Established in 1892, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska (LFS) is a faith-based, not-for-profit, multi-service human care agency with locations across Nebraska and an office in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The LFS mission is “to express God’s love for all people by providing quality human care services that build and strengthen individual, family and community life.”

LFS demonstrates its mission through three broad service areas:

• Behavioral Health Services, including outpatient mental health services and therapy, substance use treatment, sexual abuse/incest treatment, 24/7 mobile crisis response, peer support, At Ease therapeutic support for active military, veterans and their loved ones, Health 360 Integrated Care in Lincoln and specialized counseling for children, adolescents, adults and families;
• Children Services, providing parenting support and prevention/early intervention programs; RSafe^® treatment for children and families impacted by sexual abuse; infant, international and foster care adoption services and searches; Right Turn^® post adoption services; foster care; pregnancy counseling; maternal health care and family support services; youth diversion services; and
• Community Services, providing refugee resettlement services, immigration legal services, interpretation services, case management, and education and employment services for new populations.

2017 marks the 125th anniversary of LFS’ founding as two orphanages in Fremont and Omaha, Nebraska. LFS is accredited by the Council on Accreditation and an accredited charity by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), receiving an Integrity Award in 2013. LFS is a Nonprofit Association of the Midlands Guidelines and Principles Best Practices Partner; a recipient of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce Greater Omaha Business Excellence Award in 2014 and 2015, and the 2016 recipient of the Omaha Bar Association Public Service Award.

To learn more visit. www.LFSneb.org.