FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

News Release    

June 21, 2007

Contact:  Jane Simpson, Director of Public Relations
jsimpson@lfsneb.org or (402) 978-5646

Meghan Malik, Young Families Initiative Program Supervisor
mmalik@lfsneb.org or (402) 978-5638

Lana Temple-Plotz, Director of Children Services
(402) 978-5648

Lutheran Family Services brings Building Families Boutique program to Fremont

Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc. (LFS) is bringing its Building Families Boutique program to Fremont in September 2007.  Lutheran Family Services currently provides pregnancy counseling, adoption,  mental health and substance abuse services through its Fremont location at 513 North D Street.

The Fremont Boutique will use the same program model as the LFS Building Families Boutique in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which serves 340 families with children prenatal to age 5.

Meghan Malik, Young Families Initiative Program Supervisor, said “This incentive-based program encourages parents to engage in healthy activities, rewarding positive behaviors with points redeemable for much needed items including diapers, strollers, infant clothing and car seats.”  Malik commented, “This program, remarkably successful in Council Bluffs, also provides parent education classes with free on-site childcare.  We are excited to offer such needed services to not only Fremont families, but to families in the surrounding communities as well.”

Lutheran Family Services selected the Fremont site for its second Boutique because of  strong community support, research analysis and discussions with representatives from other agencies serving families with young children.  Dodge County Collaborative Team President Michella Friesen said, “DCCT is excited to see the Building Families Boutique coming to Fremont.  The Boutique will help fill a gap in the community by providing parenting and early education for parents of young children.”

Malik said, “Evidence supporting the need for services for the young parent population in Dodge County is strong.”  Statistics from 2004 show:

• Infant death rate of 12 per 1,000 births is nearly double the state average
• 14% of children under the age of five live in poverty
• 20% of children in the county reside in single parent homes

“We have received overwhelming encouragement for this type of intervention/prevention program from Fremont area churches, social service agencies, businesses and the Department of Health and Human Services,” stated Malik.

LFS is currently seeking local community funding and program partners to develop the Fremont Boutique program.  Allan Hale, President of the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce, said, “The Building Families Boutique is a great example of how to create and cultivate the well city objective of improving the mind, body and spirit for the citizens of Fremont and the surrounding area.”

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fremont has offered program and office space as well as assistance with securing Boutique store items and volunteers.  “I am absolutely delighted about Good Shepherd’s thundering and unanimous vote of approval to this partnership between our congregation and Lutheran Family Services,” said Rev. Tim Gierke, Senior Pastor. 

In 1892, LFS began as an orphanage for children in Fremont.  In the 1950s, two cottages replaced the orphanage as group homes to care for homeless children, and today Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is located on the site of the former orphanage.  Gierke said, “It’s icing on the cake that we are privileged to welcome LFS back to the very place where they had their beginning – here on our growing campus at the corner of East Military and Lincoln.  This congregation and its staff stand solidly in support of what LFS is doing to help improve the lives and health of families and children in the Fremont area.”

Hale commented, “This project will fill a significant need in the Fremont community, and we’re pleased to be a partner in improving the wellness of our area through the objectives set forth by Lutheran Family Services.”

Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska serves more than 35,000 people annually through 30 program sites throughout Nebraska, Council Bluffs, Iowa and Wichita, Kansas.  LFS is a faith-based not-for-profit organization serving children and families of all denominations and faiths.  Services include counseling, substance abuse and addiction treatment, adoption, foster care, sexual abuse treatment, pregnancy counseling, legal immigration services, refugee services, family support services and disaster response.

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