Rice Bowl needed ‘now more than ever’ as hunger rises, government aid falls, says leader

With global hunger rising, an annual Lenten initiative by the U.S. Catholic bishops has “never been more needed,” Bill O’Keefe, executive vice president for mission and mobilization at Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services, told OSV News.

CRS, the official international relief and development agency of the U.S. Catholic community, is marking the 50th anniversary of its Rice Bowl program, which has raised more than $350 million to support domestic and overseas poverty relief efforts.

With its iconic cardboard donation box, Rice Bowl combines the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving to provide humanitarian aid, spiritual renewal and increased solidarity with those in need.

The funds — 25 percent of which help local diocesan outreaches, with 75 percent benefiting CRS programs abroad — support a mission that is “critical to millions,” said Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez of Philadelphia, CRS board chair, in a March 5 statement from the organization.

In the same statement, CRS president and CEO Sean Callahan described Rice Bowl as “a pillar of our work,” which has “given hope to millions of our sisters and brothers experiencing hunger.”

Callahan described the global increase in hunger as “devastating,” with families having “to wait for hours in line for just one sack of rice or one container of water that might only last them the night.”

“CRS Rice Bowl donations enable us to help during these emergency moments, as well as set up long-term help and development,” he said.

In 2023, some 733 million people worldwide faced hunger, according to the United Nations’ 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. Hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition have devastating physical and psychosocial consequences, including insufficient height and weight in children.

In June 2024, UNICEF said that growing inequality, conflict and climate concerns — along with the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — have left 181 million, or 1 in 4, children in severe food poverty, with the majority living in 20 countries. Of those, 64 million are in South Asia, and 59 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yet at the same time, “governments around the world, including our own, appear to be reducing their commitment to address” hunger, O’Keefe told OSV News.

Reflecting on the initiative’s milestone anniversary, he pointed to the historic connections between Rice Bowl and the Eucharist.

The campaign, launched in 1975 by Msgr. Robert Coll as a local effort in the Diocese of Allentown, Pa., became a national initiative through its introduction at the Philadelphia-based 41st International Eucharistic Congress in 1976, and its subsequent adoption by the U.S. bishops through CRS.

“This is the year in which we are following up on our own Eucharistic revival here in the U.S., where we reflected on the hunger in our own spirit for Jesus in the Eucharist, and on our responsibilities to take the love that’s been given to us and share it with others,” O’Keefe said, referencing both the July 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis and the three-year National Eucharistic Revival, a grassroots effort led by the U.S. Catholic bishops to kindle renewed devotion to the Real Presence of Christ.

He added, “Now more than ever, Rice Bowl as a vehicle for focusing our Lent on helping those around the world who are hungry, and in the midst of growing need, (has) … never been more fit for purpose in our spiritual life, and in the life of God’s people around the world.”

O’Keefe also said that “Catholics are concerned about needs in the U.S. and about needs around the world,” and that “in many ways, Catholics express that we are not Americans alone. We are part of a global family.”

“Standing behind every one of our CRS workers, there are millions of Catholics who care and are basically saying by their actions, ‘This is important,'” he continued. “And I think it’s extremely motivating for them (CRS workers) to know that Catholics are praying, fasting and giving alms this Lenten season on the (Rice Bowl) 50th anniversary in order to make sure this critical assistance to people who need it continues.”

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