Donna Elbrecht hopes to take agency to next level.

To learn more about Lutheran Social Services' programs, go to www.lssin.org.

For information about Shepherd's Gate adoption services through LSS, call 494-8687 or toll free at 1-888- 722-3678. Within the next week, information on Shepherd's Gate will be available at www.shepherdsgateadoption.org.


By Jennifer L. Boen
of The News-Sentinel
Snider High School graduate Donna Elbrecht has come home to Fort Wayne to lead Lutheran Social Services of Indiana to the next level. Elbrecht, 41, returns after 19 years in Iowa, with 18 of those as president and CEO of Easter Seals of Iowa.

“Donna was searched out nationally through a placement firm. She brings an unbelievable set of skills from a broad basis,” said LSS board chairman Keith Menze of Fort Wayne. “We're counting on Donna to expose Lutheran Social Services to the community on an individual level.”

With a $3.2 million annual budget, more than 70 employees and offices in Fort Wayne and Griffith, LSS has come a long way from its 1901 roots when the Rev. Philip Wambsganss, pastor of Emmaus Lutheran Church, held orphaned and homeless babies up in front of church congregations, pleading for people to adopt them or provide temporary homes.

Today the organization provides a spectrum of services in addition to adoption: counseling for individuals and families; foster parent training; Healthy Families services that include parenting education and child abuse and neglect prevention programs; Lutheran Disability Outreach for adults with disabilities; Children's Village early-learning center; emergency financial assistance in the Cup of Kindness program; the Paint-a-Thon program to help older adults and people with disabilities spruce up their homes; and ECHO, an outreach and education program for teen parents.

A graduate of Valparaiso University, Elbrecht sees her key roles initially as diversifying funding sources and “telling our story. We must be more intentional about this,” she said, noting many myths about the agency are held: that only Lutherans can receive help; that the agency is part of Lutheran Hospital; that you have to be a Christian to receive assistance. The agency is forthcoming about being an “instrument of Christ's righteousness,” as its vision statement outlines, but people of all faiths, ages, nationalities and ethnicities are embraced, she said.

Putting real faces on the components of the agency's mission and carrying clients' stories to people one-on-one are how Elbrecht and the board of directors see LSS moving ahead in the right direction.

“Stan (Veit) did a fine job of taking the agency through a period of focusing on our faith-based mission, assuring clients that Christ is the center of what we are doing,” Menze said of Elbrecht's predecessor, who headed LSS for 10 years. But the agency has predominately been dependent on funding from foundations, United Way or government-funded programs and client fees.

“A lot of what we do is on a sliding fee scale,” Elbrecht said, noting 26 percent of LSS' budget comes from foundation grants; 16 percent from client fees; 17 percent from United Way and small foundations; 7 percent from individuals and churches; and the rest from state and federal funds through social services block grants for child-care providers or cash-assistance programs for low-income families.

For the first time, LSS is looking at becoming a Medicaid provider to broaden the ability to reach low-income people for counseling. The local and national financial crisis is causing rates of depression and marital discord to surge.

A change that has already taken place is renaming adoption services as “Shepherd's Gate.” Elbrecht explains the new name gives greater visibility to the program, particularly as pregnant women or couples seeking to adopt search for an adoption agency. Where LSS' name, with an array of services, may have come up in the past, now Shepherd's Gate will come up. The agency also recently became a service site for low-income people to sign up for energy assistance.

One of the most successful programs LSS operates is ECHO. Elbrecht hopes the program, with its 90 percent success rate of teen moms completing their education and getting their lives on track, can be grown and duplicated in other communities.

Her knowledge of and experience with board development and balanced scorecard, a measurable accountability system, is a great asset to the agency, Menze said. Elbrecht is already asking the board to consider new logos and improvements to the agency's Web pages.

An avid reader who also loves to fish, Elbrecht said returning to Fort Wayne has been a personal goal. She purposely bought a home near one of her sisters so she could spend time with her nephews.

“Donna has a lot of business skills she is marching forward with,” Menze said. “Donna was placed in our hands by God's will.”