About LCBA
LCBA, founded in 1890, is a unique type of organization that provides the financial protection our members need, with the added benefit of helping those in need. We put our earnings back into communities and causes, not pockets. Members get life or other insurance products, and in doing so, help support scholarships, charitable events and more. It’s different because it makes a difference. The kind of protection you can be proud of. Choose planning ahead and giving back, not between the two.
History
LCBA was founded as the Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association by a group of courageous Catholic women in Titusville, Pennsylvania. These women not only saw the need to provide financial protection for women, they were among the very first to act on that need. The original founders of LCBA were: Kate Woods, Union City, Pa.; Frances M. Mayer, Duke Center, Pa.; Margaret Seep, Titusville, Pa.; Hannah Shields, Corry, Pa.; Mary A. Gainey, Erie, Pa.; Nellie Frances Murray, Erie, Pa. and Regina Graff, Erie, Pa. The Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association, is the first insurance society (and the 2nd formally incorporated) owned and operated by women and solely for the benefit of women, and in the case of LCBA, specifically for Practical Roman Catholic women.
Once incorporated, the women of LCBA took to churches throughout the land proclaiming the benefits of LCBA. LCBA was one of the initial women’s rights movements. LCBA women were speaking about LCBA from Roman Catholic pulpits in the late 1800’s. By 1910, in just 20 years, without the internet or even telephone in many areas, the membership had grown to over 117,000!
Over the past one and a quarter centuries, the organization those women started and built has helped hundreds of thousands of member families carry on through perhaps the most difficult times families can have, surviving and recovering from the loss of a beloved family member. Not only did they create a successful platform for providing this help, they also expanded it to create a force for good in many communities. Today, LCBA remains rooted in Erie, Pennsylvania, just down the road from its original home, while serving over 33,000 Christians in 35 states and the District of Columbia.