2021 Gala Hosts

February 9, 2022

LBSA’s Every Step of the Way Gala Raises Over $253,000!

LBSA’s Every Step of the Way Gala Raises Over $253,000! Our 26th Annual (and first-ever hybrid) Gala was held at Carleton College on Saturday, December 4. With a reduced in-person crowd and nearly 100 online attendees, we were able to raise a record amount of money for our Annual Fund. Read More

Anabelle Xiong

February 9, 2022

Thank You, Anabelle

Thank You, Anabelle Through a decades-long partnership with Laura Baker Services Association, social work students from St. Olaf College are receiving on-the-job learning experiences. St. Olaf senior, Anabelle Xiong, is the most recent in a long line of students who have completed an internship. Anabelle is from St. Paul. She… Read More

Teadora Kontos and Zach Petersen

January 4, 2022

LBSA Awards Two More Education Scholarships

LBSA Awards Two More Education Scholarships Juggling the demands of work and school can prove to be quite a challenge. Since 2020, Laura Baker Services Association (LBSA) has been helping ease the financial burden of school for its employees who are pursuing educational opportunities at the same time. The Gary… Read More

family at table

November 18, 2021

Meet Sam Gershman, LBSA’s Lead Family Navigator

Meet Sam Gershman, LBSA’s Lead Family Navigator For six years, Sam managed to work as a radio producer at WDLB and WOSQ, all while serving at-risk children through AmeriCorps. Sam explains that he worked with youth who came from a variety of backgrounds – whether they had disabilities, a bad… Read More

happy LBSA clients

November 18, 2021

Embrace the Mess, Every Step of the Way

Embrace the Mess, Every Step of the Way 2020 AND 2021 HAVE BEEN VERY MESSY YEARS. Both internally at Laura Baker Services Association (LBSA), and in the world at large. At LBSA, our biggest challenge continues to be finding enough staff members to support our services. We’re joining with other… Read More

Client and Staff

November 18, 2021

CARE CAN’T WAIT

CARE CAN’T WAIT To our neighbors, Our caregiving community is in crisis. The pandemic has created an employment crisis in our community. The causes of this dramatic shift in employee hiring and recruiting are complex, but its impact is blunt. We have a shortage of employees within our organizations to… Read More

Meet Elii

August 17, 2021

Meet Elii

Direct Support Professional. Lead Residential Counselor. Mentor. Safety Care Instructor. Health Care Liaison. Elii Garcia has worn many hats during the time she’s worked at LBSA. Now you can add Household Director (HD) to the list. Read More

Staff Appreciation 2021

August 17, 2021

LBSA Honors Team Members at Annual Staff Appreciation Event

LBSA Honors Team Members at Annual Staff Appreciation Event On Wednesday, June 23, we hosted a picnic dinner at A Great Day Farm to honor our everyday heroes who have ALL been doing amazing work over this past year. Thank you to Mark Allen and Craig Wasner who provided some… Read More

Award winner Holly Ciffra

August 17, 2021

Expectations and Challenges

Expectations and Challenges So how about 2020? What a year! We’re all grateful to be able to be mostly done with quarantine and moving forward with our lives. At Laura Baker Services Association (LBSA), 2020 was about keeping people safe from COVID-19 (both clients and staff) and examining and adjusting… Read More

employee appreciation event

July 14, 2021

Hope for the Future

Hope for the Future So how about 2020? What a year! We’re all grateful to be able to be mostly done with quarantine and moving forward with our lives. At LBSA, 2020 was about keeping people safe from COVID-19 (both clients and staff) and examining and adjusting our business model… Read More