History

It all began with children. In 1904, Crown Princess Louise of Denmark founded the West Indian Committee for Child Care and sent two deaconesses to St. Croix to help combat the high infant mortality rate on the island. By 1917 there were three facilities, Queen Louise Home for Children in both Frederiksted and Christiansted and the Ebenezer Orphanage for Girls in Frederiksted. When the United States purchased the Danish West Indies in 1917, control of the three facilities was transferred to the Lutheran Church in America and then to the Lutheran Welfare Society in 1960. In 1967, control and ownership of Queen Louise Home was transferred to a local board of Directors and soon thereafter became known as Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands.

The agency began to broaden its services during the 1980's and 90's to include affordable housing for low-income elders and for adults with disabilities, 24 hour residential care for adults with disabilities, life skills training to help adults with disabilities learn to live more independently. In 2003, the LSS opened the first Early Head Start Program in the U. S. Virgin Islands to serve 36 infants and toddlers and 12 pregnant women from at risk families.

As it enters its second century of service, Lutheran Social Services is still committed to its mission which has served it well for 100 years and its motto, "by love, serve one another."

To learn more about Lutheran Social Services, you can order a copy of the agency's history, "It All Began with Children: The First Century of Queen Louise Home for Children and Lutheran Social Services". To order, please send $12.50 ($10.00 for the book plus $2.50 for postage and handling) to:
Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands,
Dept. of Public Relations, 516 Hospital Street
Frederiksted, VI 00840.