Crocheting For A Cause Keeps Catching On
It doesn’t seem possible, but once again we’re running behind on water socks – those colorful creations that protect the Sawyer PointONE filters used by Water Women around the world.

Recently, we have been blessed by a new addition to our team of volunteer crafters: Patricia Peet. Patricia learned about Water With Blessings from two directions. She and her husband Ken made their first gift after he met Sr. Larraine Lauter when she addressed the Archdiocese of Louisville’s Serra Club. Then her friend Cathy Shoemaker introduced her to Crocheting for a Cause.
“Cathy got me interested in donating yarn,” Patricia said. “Then she said: ‘I bet you could make these.’ I told her I would try. Since then I’ve been working to get about 10 a week, so I’ve made a couple of hundred at least.”

Patricia has enlisted two other crafters.

“My daughter, Molly Fox, asked if I could teach her to make them,” she said. “The challenge is that she’s left-handed and I’m right-handed, so we had to work together to try to translate it. She wasn’t happy with the results at first, so she went home and looked online to learn how to crochet left-handed. Now she’s doing them well, some of them in her favorite teams’ colors. We talk about it every Sunday at Mass, how many she’s done and how it’s going. It’s been a blessing to teach her something I love doing.”
Now Patricia has recruited a neighbor, Rita Shanks.

“Rita is now producing 20 to 25 every week,” Patricia said. “She’s very fast. And they are in beautiful colors, interesting blends of yarn. She’s so happy to be doing them and really does a wonderful job. She’s been a star.

“Now every week I’m able to bring a big bag of these into the office.”

Patricia loves the work Water With Blessings is doing.

“I think it’s a miracle, being able to furnish fresh water for a lifetime,” she said. “And then to do it for a whole village is astronomical – giving the people potable water, establishing Water Women here in the US and in other countries around the world.

“And to be able to pray for that woman while making the sleeve for her filter – we’ll never meet, but I feel like we’re connected. The instructions on making the water sock ask us: ‘As you begin to make this, please pray for the woman who will hold it.’ That’s powerful.”
We are in need of more filter socks! If you crochet or knit or know someone that does, please consider helping us keep up with the need for these very important filter protectors! See link below for instructions. Filter socks can be dropped off or shipped to our office:

Water With Blessings
1902 Campus Place
Suite 11
Louisville, KY 40299
Ripple Effects:
Give a Gift of Unconditional Love with Clean Water for Valentine’s Day
While we think of Valentine’s Day as a special day to celebrate the romantic love of a significant other or to honor that special bond with family and friends, it can also be a day to express love and care for the well-being of our neighbors, both near and far. Consider that a projected $10.7 billion will be spent on gifts of candy, flowers and jewelry alone as professions of love and affection on this Valentine’s Day. 
 
More than half of the individuals responding to a recent survey said that they would prefer a Valentine’s Day gift that offers a unique experience. You can demonstrate unconditional love for a special person in your life with a gift that will continue giving for decades when you sponsor equipping and preparing more Water Women to filter clean water for their families and neighbors. Your gift will prevent waterborne diseases and ensure improved health in remote, impoverished communities where mothers and their children must often make a daily trek up to 3.7 miles in search of water. Their lives dramatically change when that water can be filtered with a Sawyer PointONE filter attached to a 5-gallon bucket. 
 
Your generous expressions of enduring love have already helped us train and equip more than 140,000 Water Women around the world to provide clean water to God’s Thirsty Children. The Book of Matthew encourages us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. You can provide an extraordinary gift of love and compassion by supporting Water Women or by sharing our mission of love with others at your church, community organization or workplace. Please join us as we pray for extra blessings on all Water Women who make a sacred commitment to provide clean water for their families and their neighbors’ families.
 
Tell us about how you are sharing Water With Blessings’ mission with others or making a unique gift of clean water this Valentine’s Day.
 
Blessings,
Rebecca Stutsman, Chief Development Officer
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our very first Waterside Chat. We learned a lot from Gerry and his team in Haiti. Please take some time to watch and catch up on our mission.
01/22/22 Waterside Chat: Field Challenges for a Dedicated Team
We believe every child should be drinking clean water. Are you with us?
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