When Mahomet resident Lori Larson was diagnosed with cancer and lost her brother seven years ago, she vowed to make a mark on life.
“I just felt such a draw after my brother passed away to leave a legacy when I die,” she said. “My brother had hundreds of people at his funeral. He had been an addict and in recovery for many years. He was a leader of groups at meetings for those struggling in recovery. I wanted to follow his lead and help people. He had such an impact on the lives of others to leading them to a life of sobriety and faith that I wanted to continue that legacy of helping others in my job in social work and in my community.”
At that point, Larson checked where she was as a mother, wife, family member, a Christian woman and as a professional. Part of her change at that moment was that she stopped saying yes to everything.
“I started to prioritize what matters, and asked why am I doing this?” she said. “Am I doing this to meet more people or am I doing this to glorify God and my purpose in life?”
With this mindset, Larson began to not only approach her work in social work differently, but she also began to volunteer in places where she believes she can make a difference.
As a former social worker in the Mahomet-Seymour Schools, Larson knew there was a food gap for children in need as they transitioned from Sangamon to Lincoln Trail Elementary. To bridge that gap, Larson, alongside others, raised money to provide food for children to take home to their families through the Give Me Five program.
She also began volunteering at the Crisis Nursery in Urbana.
Through working with Executive Director Stephanie Record, Larson was asked to participate in a trip to Haiti through the Purpose Project.
Joining 11 other women, the group shared their stories about a life event that made them realize they had a greater purpose while on this Earth before they left to work at an orphanage called God’s Little Angels in Haiti.
“You hear people say all the time, ‘Everyone looks like they have it all together,’ Larson said. And I believe people don’t, especially in my field. Those people who look like they have it all together had real struggles with cancer, addiction, death or losing a child. Everyone in that group grabbed their bootstraps, picked them up and kept going.”
Larson said the nannies they met in Haiti also faced hardships, but used their struggles for the betterment of the children they take care of.
“When you look at all the things surrounding us, we have an abundant life,” she said. “These women may not have that education, the glory, the economic status, but they have the opportunity to make these children’s lives, who may never be adopted, filled with love.”
The twelve women worked with the nannies on child rearing and childcare techniques. Larson really admired a woman named Estelle, who got pregnant outside of wedlock, married her child’s father and now supports her family by working at the orphanage.
“In my opinion she was one of the biggest assets at the Village because she had such a love and desire to be with the kids,” she said.
While the Haitians change the child’s diaper, make sure they are fed and have what they need, they also do not spend time on the ground with the children from birth to age two like Americans do.
Larson said neither way is correct or incorrect, but in those moments the Americans and Haitians were together, she realized “their purpose and our purpose come together because we can all align as strong women taking responsibility and caring for something or someone.”
Larson was also floored by the similarities in the human experience even though the two groups live thousands of miles apart.
The Purpose Project women spent time at the Haitian church on Sunday morning where Larson loved to worship the same God with people who spoke and sang in a different language. She also loved listening to the children talk about what they learned in Genesis because she has taught her children the same stories.
Before the group left for Haiti, Larson sorted t-shirts with Nancy Bell from Champaign. On the night they arrived in Haiti, the group made s’mores with the children at the orphanage, and a young man named Windsor approached Larson with a Mahomet Rec t-shirt on.
“That really spoke to me,” she said. “This guy must be the one we should try to support and take care of. Of all the shirts he could of had on, he had a Mahomet rec shirt on, and I was the only one of 11 women there from Mahomet.”
Larson has already seen excitement following her trip in the Mahomet and Champaign area.Windsor Road Christian Church has talked about sponsoring a child in Haiti. And the youth ministerial staff at the church also has additional resources they can send to the orphanage.
Members from Larson’s small group and friends have voiced a desire to visit Haiti on the tail of her trip. Larson hopes to be a vehicle to help them go.
While in Haiti, the Purpose Project group was able to purchase two washing machines for the orphanage where workers were washing everything by hand. Larson sent an email this morning asking for help with sippy cups and preschool toys to fill a shortage in the orphanage. God’s Little Angels Orphanage is also in need of bright stacking or light up toys.
Donations can be dropped off at the Crisis Nursery or at a Purpose Project event on Saturday morning at the Virginia Theatre.
The event, which is part of Ladyfest during That’s What She Said weekend, will highlight the women’s journey to Haiti, but also challenge community members to think about how they can get involved both locally and internationally to make a difference in the world.
This event is free and begins at 9 a.m.
Originally, the founders of this project wanted to do a project on seven different continents in seven years. Larson said once the group went to Haiti, they fell in love with the people and have been back three consecutive years.
“They’ve been building relationships,” she said “That’s what life is about, building relationships.”
