Today’s Front Line Hero is Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, which is making efforts to recognize its staff’s hard work with a segment it calls, “Healing Heroes.
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) began serving Illinois in 1867 and touched nearly 50,000 lives across the state in 2019. LSSI’s mission is to bring healing, justice, and wholeness to people and communities, and it provides a wide array of services including foster care, mental health services, alcohol and drug treatment, various senior services, residential programs for individuals with disabilities, and programs to help people who were formerly incarcerated reintegrate into society.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff at LSSI are working to address new challenges in the community brought on by the pandemic and economic downturn. LSSI is recognizing the efforts of individual staff with stories of the “Healing Heroes” on its Facebook page.
One of the Healing Heroes LSSI recognized is Isis Sanchez, a social worker at LSSI’s Intact Family Services Child Welfare, who is deeply committed to serving families in her community. Recently, Isis faced the challenge of assisting a single-parent family with three children who became homeless during the pandemic. Homeless shelters were on lockdown, complicating the referral system, and the family was forced to live in their car temporarily. Isis worked hard to support this family by working with schools and referring organizations, while simultaneously securing temporary housing, which is difficult to find. Isis was successful in her efforts, and secured housing for the family in a hotel until they can find a more sustainable solution, and accessed emergency funding through the Department of Child and Family Services to provide financial support to the family.
Thank you to LSSI staff like Isis Sanchez, who are determined to serve families in need during the pandemic, and to LSSI for recognizing and supporting their service.
