February 18, 2025 // Diocese

Rice Bowl Program Supports Work of CRS

Todays Catholic

In 1975, leaders in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, brainstormed ways in which the local community could help to alleviate the growing hunger crisis around the world. In Lent of that year, the CRS Rice Bowl program began, as Monsignor Robert Coll coordinated the effort with leaders of Allentown’s Protestant and Jewish Communities.

A year later, the Lenten program was adopted as part of a national platform by Catholic Relief Services in preparation for the 41st International Eucharistic Congress, which was held in Philadelphia. CRS reports that nearly $5 million was raised that year, and because of the program’s success, the bishops of the United States voted to make the Rice Bowl initiative an official program of Catholic Relief Services.

Fifty years after it was founded, thanks to the generosity of Catholics in the United States, the Rice Bowl program has raised more than $350 million to support the work of CRS in more than 120 countries. It also funds initiatives that help to alleviate hunger and poverty at home, too, as 25 percent of all donations to CRS Rice Bowl stay in the local diocese. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend allocates money raised for the diocese to help the poor in our community through programs like food pantries, homeless services, youth mentoring, and  more.

Lent this year begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5, and the Church calls all Catholics to deepen their practice of the season’s three pillars – prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Bishop Rhoades, a former board member of CRS, strongly encourages parishes and school communities, as well as individuals and families, to make the CRS Rice Bowl a key component of their Lenten almsgiving.

Stories of Success

For its 50th anniversary, leaders at CRS are highlighting the success stories of men, women, and children from around the world who have benefited from the funds raised by the Rice Bowl program.

In Nigeria, more than 25 million people face extreme hunger and lack of access to nutritious food. Amina Bukar, a mother of five, counted herself among this desperate population. Growing violence forced Bukar and her family to flee their hometown and search for safety and prosperity.

“I left with just my purse, a small amount of money and the clothes on my back,” said Bukar, whose story is shared on the CRS Rice Bowl website (crsricebowl.com). “I used to live well, but suddenly, I lost everything. It affected me mentally.”

After resettling in a village several hours away, Bukar and her family had to begin life anew. She joined a Catholic Relief Services program that provided food and cooking supplies, enabling her family to eat healthy meals as they worked to rebuild their lives and find employment.

In Bangladesh, Shahadat Hossain is now a successful vegetable farmer who grows beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplants, and green chilis. Hossain’s family farm provides nutritious food for his family to eat and extra produce he can sell at the market. But a few years ago, Hossain and his family struggled to pay for basic household expenses like food and school fees. Their village, and much of Bangladesh, is located on flat lowlands. The intense rainy season causes flooding that destroys farms and crops. 

Hossain and his mother joined a Catholic Relief Services project that helps families reduce their risk from natural disasters such as flooding, cyclones, and river erosion. They learned how to protect their crops from floodwaters by planting on raised garden beds. They also learned how to make organic fertilizer to grow healthier crops. With their new skills, Hossain and his mother boosted their vegetable harvest in just one year.

“With the CRS training, my family can grow vegetables with less money,” Hossain shared on the CRS Rice Bowl website. “The vegetables I sell at the market help me to provide financially for my family.”

‘Draw Ever Closer to Jesus’

Coming on the heels of last summer’s National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, it’s fitting that the roots of the CRS Rice Bowl are deeply entwined in the Eucharist.

In the Diocese of Allentown, Monsignor Coll began the collection in 1974 while pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Allentown, inviting parishioners to eat smaller meals and donate the money saved to feed the hungry.

In nearby Philadelphia, Monsignor (later Cardinal) John P. Foley heard about the project and incorporated it into the planning of the 41st International Eucharistic Congress, which took place in 1976 in that city with the theme, “The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family.”

Following meetings with Philadelphia Cardinal John J. Krol and CRS, Rice Bowl was officially launched nationwide, and by 1976, at least 118 U.S. dioceses had raised more than $5.1 million thanks to Monsignor Coll’s basic concept – which he had described in a 2021 interview as being “simple: I have food, my brother has no food, so I will give him some of my food.”

Fittingly, the current chair of the board of CRS is the archbishop of Philadelphia, Nelson J. Pérez, who said in a statement to OSV News ahead of Lent last year that the CRS Rice Bowl initiative is “a deeply meaningful opportunity for all of us to become the hands of Christ by helping those who face the global scourge of hunger, malnutrition, and food insecurity.” He added that the program is “a tangible expression of Lenten sacrifice that nourishes the body and the soul.”

He added that Rice Bowl also has taken on a deeper meaning during the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival, a three-year grassroots effort by the nation’s Catholic bishops to enkindle devotion to the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

“CRS Rice Bowl also provides us with a way to draw ever closer to Jesus by sharing His pure love with those who cannot help themselves,” said Archbishop Pérez.

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ADVOCATE FOR CRS

According to Shawn Storer, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend’s coordinator for Catholic social ministries, Catholic Relief Services has been working diligently to urge congressional engagement with the federal administration to allow programs to operate throughout the recently initiated review process of almost all foreign aid and development programs that have received immediate stop-work orders that have interrupted the flow of life-saving assistance to vulnerable communities around the world.

To amplify our efforts, CRS is asking you to contact your members of Congress to make clear the untold suffering this executive order will cause and the impacts it is likely to have on the safety, security, and prosperity of the United States, and to ask them to advocate for the allowance of these programs to operate throughout this review process. CRS would appreciate that any email being sent to a member of Congress requesting this to include in the copy line [email protected] for the awareness of the CRS Government Relations team. Thank you.