Fast Facts
Founded: Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries was founded Jan. 1, 2000, by the affiliation and later merger of Lutheran Services Northeast and Tressler Lutheran Services, both of which date to the 1800s. Diakon is a private, nonprofit charitable organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) corporation. Its sister organization, Diakon Child, Family & Community Ministries, was created in 2014 to provide Diakon's wide range of services for children, youth, and families. At that time, the creation of sister organizations allowed Diakon as the parent organization to have separate boards of directors concentrating on senior living services and programs for children, families, and communities. As a result of corporate restructuring and reorganization in 2024, the organization now consists of Diakon as the parent company and its subsidiary Diakon Child, Family & Community Ministries (DCFCM), SWAN business units and several non-controlled HUD entities.
Mission: In response to God’s love in Jesus Christ, Diakon will demonstrate God’s command to love the neighbor through acts of service.
History: The Tressler Orphans Home was created to serve children orphaned during the Civil War and became a program of the Lutheran church in 1868. As society changed and orphanage populations began to decline, Tressler began working with children and families in their homes. The orphanage buildings and grounds were sold to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1963. A few years later, Tressler began working cooperatively with a sister Lutheran agency that had been serving older persons in central Pennsylvania since 1950, broadening Tressler’s focus to include all stages of life. In central Maryland, Tressler continued service begun in 1913 by the Lutheran Inner Mission Society of Baltimore & Vicinity, Lutheran Social Services of Maryland, which became part of Tressler Lutheran Services in 1994.
Lutheran Services Northeast was formed in 1997 through the affiliation of The Lutheran Home at Topton, Topton, Pa., and Lutheran Welfare Service of Northeastern Pennsylvania, based in Hazleton, Pa. Founded in 1896, The Lutheran Home at Topton began as The Lutheran Orphans Home of Berks County, Pa., a ministry established to answer the need for accommodations to house and care for orphaned children. Like the Tressler facility, the children’s home later began reaching out to other segments of society, with a building on the campus renovated in the early 1940s to accommodate older adults. Lutheran Welfare Service began in 1956 when representatives from 36 Northeastern Pennsylvania congregations met to establish a senior care facility. Over the next several decades, additional senior and community services were developed, including one of the first hospices in the state (now part of SpiriTrust Lutheran Home Care & Hospice).
Today: In June of 2024, an agreement was finalized to combine Diakon's senior living operations with Lutheran Senior Services (LSS). The transaction had to go through rigorous regulatory approvals and Diakon Senior Living operations and staff at its four campuses became part of LSS. Today, Diakon offers a range of services for children, youth, adults, families, and seniors.
Diakon is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America through Lutheran Services in America—one of the largest non-profit service networks in the country—and serves within the Delaware-Maryland, Lower Susquehanna, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Upper Susquehanna synods of the ELCA. Diakon services are available to people regardless of race, color, religion, creed, disability, ancestry, national origin, age, sex, or sexual orientation or any other classes protected by law and in compliance with all local, state, and federal laws. Separately from its program divisions, Diakon administers the Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption & Permanency Network, or SWAN.
Services:
- Rental-assistance housing
- Community services, including senior centers, meals on Wheels, information and referral, RSVP and active-senior adult educational and lifestyle programs
- Adoption and foster care services for children and youths waiting for permanent family resources
- At-risk youth services, including weekday community-based accountability services and day treatment, intensive weekend program, and evening reporting programs
- Diakon Family Life Services behavioral health care, including individual, marriage, and family counseling; certified addictions counseling; and specialized children’s services
- Diakon pregnancy services
- Family reunification and preservation services
- Wilderness-based team-building services for corporations, colleges and community organizations
Staff & Volunteers: Diakon employs nearly 400 people. Each year, the same number of dedicated volunteers contribute thousands of hours of service to help Diakon clients.
Administration: Diakon is governed by several boards of directors, with a majority of members elected by the bishops of the Delaware-Maryland, Lower Susquehanna, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Upper Susquehanna synods, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Primary Locations:
Diakon Child, Family, & Community Ministries: Allentown, Boiling Springs, Columbia, Lewisburg, Mahanoy City, Mechanicsburg, Media, Montoursville, New Bloomfield, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah, Topton, Tremont, Williamsport, and York, Pennsylvania.
Diakon Senior Living & Housing Services: Scranton, and Topton, Pennsylvania; and Frostburg, Maryland.
