COVID-19 has impacted many aspects of our world, but one thing it hasn’t changed is that there are children in need of loving homes.

There are more than 900 children in Minnesota’s foster care system who are waiting to be placed with adoptive families. The pandemic hasn't changed the need for foster families, but it has changed how state and private adoption agencies are currently operating.

Many residents in Minneapolis, impacted by grocery store closures, damage to businesses, job loss and transportation challenges need help with basic needs.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota (LSS) will be organizing a collection of basic needs on Thursday, June 4 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Center for Changing Lives, 2400 Park Avenue South in Minneapolis.

45 Million Americans are in the process of paying off mountains of student loan debt.

But financial experts say the COVID-19 pandemic provides many with a unique opportunity.

According to the Institute of College Access and Success, Americans have compiled $1.6 trillion in student debt.

But many who have college loans recently got some good news when the CARES Act was signed in March. 

Those with federal student loans would be granted forbearance.

Through a new federal grant that is part of the CARES Act, Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is now able to provide older Minnesotans ages 60+ two meals a day, seven days a week through its LSS Meals service – up from one daily meal.

Since the start of the pandemic, Lutheran Social Service has experienced a dramatic increase in meals requested. More than 120,000 meals have been served since mid-March, an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year.

Kris Hanson will lead new efforts in Duluth to find and support caring foster parents for children who are unable to remain safely in their homes as a Therapeutic Foster Care Coordinator for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. Hanson, a former foster parent, fostered children while also raising her own children.

On an average day, there were approximately 9,300 children and young adults in care last year, primarily due to parental drug abuse and child neglect, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Lutheran Social Services Caregiver Support is organizing different events every Wednesday for older adults all across Minnesota.

Those who joined the event today were given a virtual tour of a farm in Park Rapids.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota can now provide meals to more Minnesotans facing food insecurity thanks to a recent expansion of their commercial kitchen in Waterville.

A recent donation from Donald Nelson, of Northfield, allowed LSS to update the kitchen to meet a growing demand for meals during the state’s response to COVID-19. The site is now one of two Minnesota production kitchens for LSS Meals to Go – a service that prepares delicious homestyle frozen meals and ships them statewide. The other LSS Meals to Go site is Hilltop Regional Kitchen in Eagle Bend.

The fence outside of The Reach Drop-In Center, known for holding donated scarves in the winter months now serves a new purpose during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week, one of the organization’s supporters reached out to see if they could donate face masks and hang them on the fence for those in need. Now The Reach says anyone who is sewing a mask can hang them on the fence for those in need to take.

May is Foster Care Awareness Month and many children won’t be able to see their moms this Sunday for Mother’s Day due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Foster families are doing what they can, including Elbow Lake foster family Katelyn and Connor Grytdahl, who are taking care of four siblings between the ages of 2 and 10, alongside their own 7-month-old and 2-year-old.

The caregiving program at Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota is designed to support those dedicating their time to caring for a loved one.

However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that service has had to be put on hold.

“A caregiver is not getting a break. We talk a lot about caregiver burn out and that is just the total mental and emotional exhaustion of these caregivers,” said Lutheran Social Service’s Laura Rasmussen.

While the organization can no longer visit these homes, it has still managed to find a way to give these caregivers some relief.