April 4, 2003 (Baltimore, MD) - 2003 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE

Lutheran Services in America has presented the 2003 Awards for Excellence to two social ministry organizations that have demonstrated exemplary creativity in ministry. Both of these organizations have identified a growing challenge and developed a method of responding to the challenge.

Lutheran Family and Children's Services of Missouri was recognized for its CALL (Children Alive Learning Leadership) Mentoring Program. This program assists in providing positive role models and educational activities to children and families. It fosters partnerships with parents in order to enable children and youth to become healthy, productive adults.

California Lutheran Homes was recognized for the Spiritual Care Project - a program of the Center for Spirituality and Ethics in Aging. This project engages long-term care professionals in thought provoking study and discussion about aging and spirituality. As the number of older adults continues to increase, the insights gained from this project will be increasingly important.

Summaries of these two projects, along with those of 26 other projects that were nominated, are included in a booklet that was distributed at the conference. You may obtain a copy of this booklet by contacting Doug Johnson at (410) 230-2704 or dojohnson@lutheranservices.org.