Lauren Goldener was in Kenya, had some time to kill, and went to the watering hole with friends to see the animals. That’s when the earth fell away beneath her and she thought she was being swallowed by quicksand.

“It was terrifying. My legs were so heavy. I thought, ‘Oh no! This is it.’”

Turns out she had fallen into a clay pit. When friends dragged her out, terrifying turned to hilarious and they scraped clay off her feet to craft sculptures.

Lauren went to Africa in 2017 on an internship. She graduated from Eastern High School in 2015 and from Western Kentucky University in 2019 with degrees in psychology and sports management. While in college in Bowling Green she helped start a youth soccer league for refugees there and spearheaded the launch team for a refugee ministry. Later, she spent a year teaching first graders in Tulsa, Oklahoma, through Teach America, which places teachers in low-income schools.

Serving is her blood, she said, especially serving refugees. “When I came home from Africa in 2017, I realized that you don’t have to go all the way across the world to serve the nations and to love the nations really well, because a lot of them live in our backyards,” Lauren said. “Refugees are where my heart is.”

Lauren came to Catholic Charities this summer as the community engagement specialist for MRS, meaning she recruits and places volunteers for MRS. With the fall of Kabul and the influx of Afghan evacuees, she’s been swamped. “My phone quite literally never stops ringing.”

“It’s been really cool to be on the outreach side of this and to see that we have so many people who want to help,” she said. “Not because of anything they need, but because they want to give. It’s been humbling to see how our city has stepped up.”

Outside of work Lauren is more or less obsessed with a new niece and her dog, Rari. “My brother just had a baby so my life kinda revolves around my niece, Cooper, at the moment.”  Current family traditions include Saturday mornings together watching College Game Day on ESPN and Michigan football later. “We’re growing her up to love football.” Lauren and her mom also have season tickets to UofL women’s basketball.

Lauren’s pup, Rari (like a Ferrari but not) is a beagle lab mix who has helped Lauren through a difficult year of deaths in her family. “I know it sounds cheesy, but having my dog’s love has meant the world to me.”

Lauren said she’s “really thankful that I’m here at Catholic Charities,” where staff are kind and welcoming, and she’s thrilled to “get to be someone who mobilizes our community” to love the nations right here in Kentucky.