Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Rice Bowl Grants

by Dr. John Huynh | July 20, 2026

The Fruit of Lenten Almsgiving

Although we're in the midst of the summer season, multiple local Catholic groups are seeing the benefits of our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving from this past Lent. Those practices are meant to draw us more deeply into the life of Christ, and therefore more deeply into love of neighbor. One of the fruits of that Lenten charity in our Diocese is seen in the CRS Rice Bowl grants that now support efforts addressing hunger and food insecurity close to home.

Many Catholics know CRS Rice Bowl as a familiar Lenten practice, but fewer may realize how its gifts are shared. To note, 25% of Rice Bowl donations remain in the local diocese to support hunger- and poverty-alleviation efforts, while 75% supports Catholic Relief Services’ programs around the world. CRS Rice Bowl describes that global work as part of the Church’s effort to respond to hunger, food insecurity, and poverty through concrete forms of assistance and long-term development.

That international portion supports work that is both practical and human in the fullest sense. Catholic Relief Services points to programs involving food, water, sustainable livelihoods, agriculture, and nutrition, all of which are aimed not merely at short-term relief but at helping vulnerable communities live with greater stability and dignity.

Here in our own Diocese, the portion retained locally becomes a tangible sign that Christian almsgiving is not simply about distant needs, even while it always includes them. It also draws our attention to those closer to us: families, parish efforts, food pantries, and community organizations carrying out the patient work of feeding the hungry. This year, our Diocese received 10 applications for local CRS Rice Bowl assistance.  In reviewing those requests, the decision was made to provide some support to all of them rather than to fund only a few. That seemed the more fitting expression of solidarity in our shared work against hunger and food insecurity.

In total, $6,600 was awarded from the $6,637.00 available for local distribution. In making those decisions, some additional consideration was given to parish-based efforts located farther from the Des Moines metro, where services are often less available than in areas closer to the city. The aim was not simply to distribute funds, but to do so with an eye toward need, circumstance, and the wider common good.

This year’s recipients were:

• Faith and Grace Garden, West Des Moines;
• St. Patrick in Imogene;
• St. Michael in Harlan;
• Catholic Charities Food Pantry;
• Good Samaritan Food Pantry, Adel;
• St. Ambrose Cathedral Connections Cafe;
• Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC);
• Friends of the Catholic Worker, Des Moines;
• Assumption Church Social Justice Meals, Granger; and
• Creston Area Food Pantry.

None of these grants is especially large. But that, too, says something true about the Christian life. The Lord often works through what seems small: modest sacrifices, simple offerings, the steady fidelity of ordinary people. During Lent, the faithful gave alms; in Easter and beyond, we are able to see some of the fruit. What was placed in a Rice Bowl now becomes, in its own way, bread for others.