BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Catholic Relief Services (CRS) will sponsor its 24th annual Operation Rice Bowl fund-raiser to aid the poor worldwide and provide education on the realities of global poverty beginning Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17 and continuing through Lent.

Churches, schools, families and individuals of the Atlanta Archdiocese are invited to join with over 13,500 other Catholic communities nationwide in the program which encourages Catholics to pray, fast, learn and give during the Lenten season. With this year’s theme, the program calls participants to promote justice and peace through action, to love the poor through acts of charity and justice and to walk humbly with God and in solidarity with the poor.

“Operation Rice Bowl allows members of a community to explore Pope John Paul II’s definition of charity as a ‘twofold reality as love of God and neighbor’ and to examine justice during the Lenten season,” said Bishop John Ricard, president of CRS.

In the penitential spirit of Lent, participants receive a small cardboard rice bowl, a symbol of both hunger and hope, and are encouraged to prepare a simple meal once weekly and to collect the money saved in the box for donation. Individuals and families can also request a home calendar guide to enrich Lent through daily reflections and activities focusing each week on a different country.

After Holy Thursday, those participating through their church will turn in money to their parishes, with checks payable to the parish, and others should send checks payable to CRS to the archdiocesan Finance Office at 680 W. Peachtree St., NW, Atlanta 30308.

A community and parish guide is also available to help pastoral staff plan participation in parishes, schools, diocesan offices, hospitals and small faith communities. Catechists can request an educator’s guide to help them teach students about poverty by integrating stories, Scripture and activities into their curriculum. All materials are free and may be ordered in large quantities.

Program participation has steadily increased over the past six years and in 1998 over 13,400 parishes and schools participated in the world relief program, raising over $6 million. Of the money raised locally this year, 25 percent will fund hunger alleviation projects in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the remaining 75 percent will support a wide variety of development projects to promote self-sufficiency in over 80 countries. Some of the programs, which are all designed to foster the dignity of the human person and to impact as many people as possible, focus on small enterprise development by providing loans to help start small businesses and generate more income. Others focus on agricultural enrichment, water and sanitation projects, mother and daughter projects and job training. “The program allows all of us to develop a greater feeling of solidarity with the poor around the world,” said Bishop Ricard.

Jane Ong’ole, who lives in rural Kenya, Africa, is one of many who benefited through the program. She had been earning $80 a month making and selling bricks which she spent mostly on schooling for her seven children and which gave her little food money. Ong’ole received a dairy cow on credit through the Kisumu Dairy Project that produced 10 liters of milk daily. Selling seven of each 10 liters, she has increased her income by over 20 percent to better support her family and provide money to construct a local school.

Catholic Relief Services is the official overseas relief and development agency for the U.S. Catholic community and provides assistance solely on the basis of need. For information or to participate in Operation Rice Bowl, individuals may call Margaret Conley, marketing coordinator, at (410) 625-2220, ext. 3257. Groups should call (800) 222-0025.