2025 United Thank Offering Grant Recipient - Community Water Filling Station, Church of the Epiphany, Opelousas

The Episcopal Church Executive Council recently approved more than $1 million in United Thank Offering grants supporting 27 innovative mission and ministry projects focused on water-related issues around the world.

Projects range from a reverse osmosis filtration system to combat lead-contaminated drinking water in Western Louisiana to indoor plumbing at a South Dakota congregation to water-saving agricultural projects in Tanzania and California’s Central Valley.

The funds come from the United Thank Offering’s yearly Ingathering, which includes monies collected in “blue boxes” at Episcopal churches, designated as thank offerings.

This is the final round of a three-year United Thank Offering grant focus on areas of ministry based on Matthew 25:31-46. This year’s grants fund projects that address sanitation; access to water; and water education or climate change mitigation.
The 2023 and 2024 United Thank Offering grants supported 42 projects related to the worldwide incarceration crisis and welcoming “the stranger.”

“The grant awards emphasize both the physical and spiritual importance of water in our lives,” said Karin Elsen, president of the United Thank Offering board. “These funds will be used for the construction of many practical things, such as showers and wells, while also fostering service, hospitality, and renewal through the projects. Many lives will be positively impacted.”

The UTO Board received about $2 million in requests from 43 applications. It was able to fund 27 projects within The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion, including three historical grants.

Grant recipients are listed below by focus category. Read details about each project.

Projects addressing access to water ($453,101.41 total)

• Episcopal Church in Western Louisiana: Community Water Filling Station, Church of the Epiphany, Opelousas – $82,000