Operation Rice Bowl, a Lenten program of prayer, fasting, education and almsgiving, launches its 24th annual campaign on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 1999. The 40-day program encourages Archdiocesan parishioners to fast one day a week during Lent. Families place money saved that would have been spent on meals into a cardboard "rice bowl" to remember those suffering from poverty and hunger. After Easter, parishioners will combine their contributions and donate the money to those in need.

This year's theme is "Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly." Catholic Relief Services has designated each of the six weeks of Operation Rice Bowl 1999 as being devoted to six different countries: Guatemala, Sudan, Kenya, El Salvador, India and the United States.

During Operation Rice Bowl 1998, almost $260,000 was raised by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Seventy-five percent of the funds collected were distributed through Catholic Relief Services, an international air agency, and were used for projects aimed at helping low-income people develop skills and resources in countries throughout the world. Twenty-five percent of the funds, roughly $65,000 dollars, remained within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Nutritional Development Services, a division of Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, used the funds to purchase food for the Philadelphia area's poor and hungry.

Operation Rice Bowl materials are available from most local parishes.

Contact
John Miller
Broadcast and Media Specialist
215-587-3747