Afghan Women’s Group offers social and community connection
Lutheran Community Services Northwest's Afghan Women’s Group is helping recently arrived refugee women build new lives in the Puget Sound region. Led by behavioral health associate Mastora Hassan, the support group is open to female counseling clients who are from...
An appeal from our CEO – Urge WA lawmakers to come through for refugees
To the LCS Northwest community, Helping refugees find their footing on the path to stability is a team effort. We couldn't do it without fellow resettlement agencies and community-based organizations up and down the Interstate 5 corridor. We certainly couldn’t do it...
Immigration program’s new director aims to ‘break walls and barriers’
With each step of his 10-year professional journey with LCSNW, Alma Jean has kept an unwavering focus on immigrant and refugee rights. He started as a legal intern, then took a job as a staff attorney, winning more than 42 cases for asylum seekers on at least four...
Staff Spotlight: Yolanda Gonzalez
Meet: Yolanda GonzalezJob: Resource Support SpecialistDistrict: North Puget Sound More than seven years ago, Yolanda Gonzalez needed a mammogram. She contacted Familias Unidas, LCS Northwest’s Latino community resource center in Everett, for assistance. When she...
‘Labor pains at midnight’ bring joy – and a U.S. citizen – to Afghan refugee family
In the early morning hours of Friday, Jan. 14, an Afghan refugee family who are new arrivals in Vancouver received the gift of their own new arrival. The birth of a healthy baby girl brought joy to their world – and to the LCS Northwest community, as well. Life has...
Quilt preserves our 100-year history with style
Strategic planning, like the work currently underway at LCSNW, is an important way to step purposefully into the future. Celebrating a centennial, which we're in the homestretch of doing at the agency, is an important way to show respect for the past--and for the...
Juneteenth holiday is a ‘step towards reconciliation and healing’
LCS Northwest will join the party to right a historical wrong this year with the first-time observance of Juneteenth, a long-neglected holiday that recognizes the true emancipation of enslaved people in America. Juneteenth commemorates the date that the last people...
Farewell to ‘Dr. G’ after two-decade partnership
Sometimes youth experience a mental health crisis and need immediate support. Over the last 19 years, Dr. Rinah Gutierrez has partnered with our Stabilization and Wellness in Families together (SWIFT) program in the Tri-Cities to provide medication management...
Agency CEO elected to new national board position
LCS Northwest President and CEO David Duea has been named to the Board of Directors of Lutheran Services in America, based in Washington D.C. He joins the 12-member board as its only West Coast representative. Lutheran Services in America is one of the largest health...
Staff Spotlight: Beth Pitts
Meet: Beth Pitts Job: Manager, Navy EFM Respite Care Program District: South Puget Sound EFM stands for “exceptional family members,” and Beth has been a faithful ally for these special-needs children and their families since joining the agency’s Bremerton staff in...
Sister of Fallen Soldier Raises Nearly $1,000 for Refugees
Curtis Fairless would be proud of his little sister, Angela, for raising nearly $1,000 to help resettle Afghan refugees in Oregon and Washington. Angela held a drawing Dec. 1 for a small ruby that her brother, a former Marine, brought home from his Oregon National...
Staff Feature: Kristina Hammond and Blaine Huizinga
Meet: Kristina Hammond and Blaine Huizinga Job: Crime Victim Advocates District: Spokane Driven by a passion to help some of society's most invisible crime victims, Kristina and Blaine want to share what they know with anyone who will listen. Both are certified sexual...
Resettling Afghan Refugees: An Updated Message From Our CEO (9/29/2021)
To the LCS Northwest community, With an extraordinary wave of refugees from Afghanistan to the United States now underway, LCS Northwest is ramping up services, programs and staffing to meet this historic moment. Thank you for your outpouring of interest in partnering...