Each Lent, Catholic families across the country unite to put their faith into action through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. While there are many ways that we can practice Lenten almsgiving, one program that helps the poor around the world is the Catholic Relief Services program called Rice Bowl.

Any family can participate in the Rice Bowl program, either through your parish or individually. The website CRSricebowl.org contains all the information you need to fully participate with your children in this Lenten project. It is not too late to participate. If you do not receive a Rice Bowl from your parish, you can download a poster with all the instructions you need from the CRS Rice Bowl website under the "Families" tab.

Last year, 55 parishes and collaboratives of the Archdiocese of Boston joined together to raise over $57,000. St. Benedict's Parish in Somerville led the list with over $10,000 in donations.

St. Benedict's pastor, Father Alejandro Lopez, has witnessed firsthand the work of CRS. He was most impressed with how CRS provides aid in a way that causes permanent change for people that is sustainable -- not "transactional aid" that helps for just a short period of time. Claudia Pleitez, the director of evangelization and ministry, explained that Father Alejandro's compassionate homilies help push parishioners out of their "everyday world" to find solidarity with the poor. Claudia said everyone receives a Rice Bowl, and each family is asked to consider giving one dollar a day. Everyone was surprised with the final total.

Just donating is one level of helping others -- and it is important for sure. But this project invites us to look more closely at the people Rice Bowl helps. Here in our country, it is hard for us, as parents, to teach our children what it is like to be hungry or to have no change of clothes, no shoes or no school bus to take us to school. The videos and stories on the CRS website help us to understand how people around the world face these challenges in their daily lives. This year's videos focus on the reality of people in three countries in different parts of the world: Guatemala, Rwanda, and Bangladesh. CRS helps to build solidarity -- a compassionate relationship with people we might otherwise never know.

The money we raise will not be used to help people buy a new house or give them a car. Rather, in each country, on each continent, CRS studies the needs of the people to help them find ways to better support themselves and improve their nutrition, farming skills, and medical situation.

Other programs that CRS offers address issues such as COVID safety training, obtaining safe drinking water, more efficient use of water in irrigation, and safe distribution of AIDS medications.

And, of course, CRS is also there to offer emergency aid when disaster strikes, whether it be from a natural catastrophe, such as a typhoon or drought, or a man-made crisis. Right now, CRS is helping Ukrainian refugees find food and shelter across the border from the war zone and is also working inside Ukraine to provide safe havens for children and families fleeing the combat.

Through the CRS Rice Bowl videos, families learn about how CRS helps our sisters and brothers across the globe overcome hardships like hunger and malnutrition and how, through our Lenten Rice Bowl donations, we have the power to make the world a little bit better.

DEACON DONOHUE IS PERMANENT DEACON OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON ASSIGNED TO HOLY NAME PARISH, ROSLINDALE-WEST ROXBURY, AND A CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES GLOBAL FELLOW.