LSS exists to fulfill our mission of creating a better world by serving people in need. Something we have been doing for 113 years.
On Sunday, Elon Musk retweeted a tweet from General Mike Flynn that included a spreadsheet highlighting two grants to Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio. Musk said the DOGE team is “rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
The original message baselessly accused the organizations listed of money laundering. LSS is highly audited, including an annual independent audit, accredited and endorsed by the Better Business Bureau. Our financial reports are on our website. With federal funding in particular, we are held accountable for every dollar.
Our grants that were highlighted are for the LSS Health Center, which is specifically designated to provide health care to people experiencing homelessness as well as to others with low incomes. One grant is for $7M and represents funding from the last seven years and the other is for $670K from two years of service.
To date, we have not received an official notice of a loss of funding. We have a long-standing relationship with the government that goes back decades and allows us to provide services to people in need. Eliminating these funds would impact our capacity to serve the 80,000 people we provide services to each year.
It is unfortunate that this kind of inaccurate, inflammatory rhetoric gains so much attention, but we will stay focused on providing people in need of housing, health care and emergency assistance with dignity and respect.
We urge our supporters to contact their Congressional representatives to voice their opposition to these unfounded claims and any efforts to disrupt our ability to serve our community.
Thank you for your support and dedication to our mission.
