Personal Data
Lauren Vater is a native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin and was a parishioner of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish of the Green Bay Diocese. Lauren joined MKLM in 2008, bringing with her years of experience in service.

In Milwaukee, she had volunteered several hours a week with an adult literacy program.  For almost two years, Lauren worked with at-risk and homeless youth as a volunteer with the Covenant House's Faith Community; she worked in Community Outreach at Covenant House in Brooklyn and was a Resident Advisor at the Toronto and New York locations. As a Dominican Volunteer, Lauren worked in the Dominican Leadership Conference's office at the United Nations (UN) as an Associate Representative.

Lauren earned her BA in International Relations and a Certificate in Business from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Current Ministry
Centro Vicente Cañas (CVC) is located in southern zone of Cochabamba, in the neighborhood of Valle Hermoso.  This center’s programs support the impoverished, migrant population in their efforts to attain basic resources and create social change. Inspired by Jesus’s words, “The last shall be first,” the center’s workers promote justice, democracy, equity, solidarity, dialog, intercultural exchange, brotherhood/sisterhood, equality, responsibility, cooperation, and self-criticism.  The center is a Jesuit-led project and is largely funded by the Liliane Foundation in Holland and a donor source in Spain.

Lauren serves in ministry as a team member of the Social Promotions Department of CVC.  She is struck by the many hardships faced by the people of the area, and works hard to address problems such as insufficient potable water in their area, the stigma surrounding those who have disabilities, and the difficulties of unemployed parents to feed and educate their children. Lauren oversees an educational scholarship program, assists the center's social worker in making home visits and giving workshops, and she facilitates fairs around the city of Cochabamba that build awareness of the issues facing the people of the Southern Zone.

The educational scholarship program pays the tuition for more than 40 middle and high school-aged children. The comedor, or soup kitchen, feeds more than 85 children each day. This same program also assists children with homework after school. This is especially significant to the parents of the community; many of them do not have the educational background needed to help their kids with homework. The program for persons with disabilities provides medical attention, physical therapy, and medication. 

An exciting new cross-program has also been developed in which scholarship recipients and members with disabilities work together to help each other. Students from the scholarship program who are studying construction are ‘hired’ to draw up plans and help build disabled-friendly rooms and accommodations in resident’s homes. Because of this program, more than 22 families were able to augment their homes to accommodate a family member with a disability.