Water With Blessings Co-Founder Honored At Epiphany
Louisville-- Sr. Larraine Lauter, OSU-MSJ, was honored on February 18 at Epiphany Catholic Church with its annual Fr. James Flynn Social Responsibility Recognition event. This yearly event honors current or former parishioners who have responded to the call of the Gospel and Catholic Social Teaching.
Known to many in the Louisville community as the Executive Director of Water With Blessings, Sr. Larraine has responded to the cries of the marginalized all over the world. She started in Kentucky, establishing an immigrant shelter with housing and support for migrant workers in Owensboro. In Louisville, she served as Hispanic Minister at St. Bartholomew’s and at Epiphany.
It was a series of medical trips and a chance encounter at a mission conference that led to the creation of Water With Blessings. After a series of trips to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Sr. Larraine realized that many of the illnesses the team routinely treated could be eliminated if the people had clean water to drink. A solution came in 2007 when she encountered the Sawyer PointOne water filtration system.
Sr. Larraine’s experience in helping people where they lived allowed her to see that marrying high technology with practical humanity could be highly effective. She also understood that mothers could be a key resource in providing clean water to entire villages. Through her leadership, Water With Blessings now partners with 115,000 mothers in 48 countries ensuring healthy water is available to their families and communities.
Thanks to her work, people in Haiti, Honduras, Uganda, and the Philippines enjoy clean water and healthier lives. Closer to home, Water With Blessings is now helping the Navajo nation provide clean water for its people.
Epiphany parishioner Rosemary Smith, who has accompanied Sr. Larraine on trips to Central America, introduced Sr. Larraine to those attending and had some remarks about her experiences on these trips. “Sister Larraine is a role model and leader among those dedicated to social justice work at Epiphany,” Mary Kaye Jacobs, Chair of Epiphany’s Social Responsibility Steering Committee said. In presenting the recognition Jacobs commented that “Seeing the dedication to her work and her success has been a source of inspiration and encouragement in our own small efforts to make a difference in areas where help is most needed.”
Epiphany’s Social Responsibility ministry has held Fr. James Flynn recognition events for more than 30 years. Sr. Larraine has joined a distinguished group who have made a positive difference in the lives of her brothers and sisters in need.