Speech #1010107725

Mr. President. November 15 is a golden anniversary day for the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. a national agency of Lutheran churches in the United States for ministry with uprooted people. LIRS is an interLutheran cooperative agency that represents 95 percent of all Lutherans in the United States. The church bodies it serves are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church. both based in Chicago. and the Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod. based in St. Louis. Since 1939. LIRS has resettled more than 155.000 refugees through partnerships with Lutheran ministry organizations. congregations. and community people. More than 6.000 congregational sponsors were mobilized for this work. to foster the wellbeing of refugees and their integration into American life. The total number resettled includes more than 3.000 unaccompanied refugee children placed in foster care since 1978. LIRS is one of Just two national voluntary agencies that resettles unaccompanied minors. The LIRS is not resting on its laurels. Their ministry is expected to expand significantly in the years ahead. I commend the people who have made the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service such a vibrant organization for 50 years and wish them well as they meet the challenges of the nineties.*