“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”  –Helen Keller

Helen Keller was not someone who shared the strong faith of the Lutheran women who first formed the LWML, but her notion of teamwork is certainly reflected in its mission. Built on the Biblical account of the widow’s mite, the LWML Mite Box was created for the collection of small offerings, over and above those given to support the local congregation’s mission. Small amounts collected by individual Lutheran women, joined together with small amounts collected by others, soon formed larger amounts and began to accomplish remarkable things.

And it wasn’t just a passing fad: that Mite Box has staying power!

In 1930 — the same year the LFS orphanage was built in Fort Dodge, Iowa — 92 Ladies Aid Societies first used Mite Boxes to collect $6,651 for mission work ($129,096 in today’s dollars). Since then, through individual Societies, District, and National grants, the LWML has collected and supplied well over $100,000,000 of funding for Gospel-centered mission outreach throughout the entire world. Amazing!

If you’re an LWML member reading this post today — know that we see you, and we’re thankful to God for all you do that is so often un-seen and un-recognized, including your partnership in this work that we share. If you’re not an LWML member, keep reading and join us in realizing how God is using these amazing women to further His Kingdom work!

Individual, Society, & District Partnerships

Since our founding in 1901, women of the church have joined together with LFS, following Scripture’s call to care for orphans and widows, and many others in need. You have joined us to care for orphans, young women experiencing unplanned pregnancy, teens who struggle with living out their Christian faith in the world, couples locked in unhealthy and unsafe marriage and family relationships, and individuals who suffer challenges to their mental, emotional, and spiritual health. In recent years, you’ve joined us to provide intentional care for our church workers, their spouses, and children, along with  expanding our reach outside of Iowa into new territories.

Over the years you’ve offered countless prayers, invited us to many gatherings to learn about our work, brought in-gathering items, and collected mites through your Societies. Not to mention your individual support through monthly donations, memorial gifts, end-of-year gifts, and estate gifts – all built on the notion that so much can be accomplished when we work together in Jesus’s name.

Our computerized recordkeeping system isn’t perfect and only goes back to the early 1990s, but it still documents the power of your = mite-y impact: $120,000 in District rants, $131,000 in Society gifts, and over $330,000 given directly by individual LWML members. Each gift represents an individual person, couple, or person served through your love for God and His children in need.

Thank you. We love our partnership with you, and we love you.

National Partnerships

In 2023, LFS received our first LWML National grant award for “Healthy Together: Healthy Workers, Healthy Church.” This grant was instrumental in launching a campaign to expand our faith-based counseling capacity. With this support, we opened new offices in Nebraska and South Dakota, and increased our counseling team from 11 to 20 to meet the growing needs of our LCMS church workers and members. This LWML grant provided the spark for not only growth in LFS work and service over the next biennium, but growth that God continues to inspire today: we are now serving through our adoption program in 4 states and through our counseling team in 11 states — with more to come, God-willing.

In 2025, a second National grant was awarded, this time to support families throughout Synod to understand, navigate, and walk with their children through challenges including gender identity confusion, gender transition, mental illness, suicidal risk, and alienation that threaten to derail and disrupt their family life and faith walk. Because of the stigma surrounding these topics, it is often difficult for Christian families to ask for help. When they do reach out, they want to know that help is Scripturally-sound and Gospel-focused.

Resources for Christian parents are few, with most designed to promote a worldly, gender-affirming stance. People within our church body are desperately seeking professional help that is built on a strong Biblical foundation that incorporates and is congruent with their Lutheran Christian faith. The “Not Alone: Gospel Help for Families in Crisis” grant uses technology to bring information and support groups to families facing these critical challenges, no matter where they live.

Mite Box Gospel Power

We celebrate and regularly thank God for this powerful LWML-LFS partnership, formed over the years and continuing strong today.

In 2026, LWML members in 8 Districts will receive grants submitted by LFS for prayerful partnership consideration — each designed to reach a hurting world with God’s care, offered through Lutheran Christians working together, motivated by God’s love.

One by one, little stuffed Mite Boxes — emptied, counted, and joined together with hundreds of others — are still accomplishing God’s purposes to reach people in need of Gospel-centered care. God bless the LWML and its members who so faithfully, one-by-one and day-by-day, live out their mission to joyfully proclaim Christ, support missions, and equip women to honor God by serving others!

Rev. Max Phillips
Executive Director
Lutheran Family Service

Join us this year by adding your support to this partnership that is accomplishing so much. No matter the amount, God will use it in combination with gifts from others to bring needed help to someone who calls LFS in the days ahead. Your help is needed, and so greatly appreciated.