SEATTLE – Catholics in Western Washington donated $502,270 — the most of any diocese in the U.S. — during the 2023 Lenten Rice Bowl program.
Catholic Relief Services, which sponsors the program, “notified us that we were once again the top Rice Bowl diocese in the country,” said Steve Homiack, director of parish support and annual campaigns for the Archdiocese of Seattle’s development office, said March 8.
This year’s Rice Bowl program continues through the end of Lent, and 25% of the money donated by local parishioners stays in the archdiocese.
The yearly generosity of local Catholics means the archdiocese is distributing $148,000 this month to 206 parishes and organizations to help support food programs and gardens that help the hungry.
“Once again, the parishioners of Western Washington came through,” Homiack said. “God bless our parishioners!”
The archdiocese awarded $114,500 in Rice Bowl grants to 158 organizations — $1,000 each to parishes and local organizations and $500 each to Catholic Community Services/Catholic Housing Services, Homiack said.
These grants were awarded to programs all around the archdiocese, including the food assistance ministry at St. Philip Parish in Woodland, the Hope House street outreach program in Bellingham, the Tri-Parish Food Bank in the Skagit Valley, Society of St. Vincent de Paul conferences at several parishes and numerous CCS/CHS programs, shelters and housing facilities.
Another $33,500 was awarded to 48 parishes and organizations through the archdiocese’s Rice Bowl Garden Grant program, Homiack said. Recipients included the Lao-Khmu Community Garden at St. Edward Parish in Seattle, the St. Joseph Parish Garden in Vancouver and the Holy Cross Outreach Potato Garden at Holy Cross Parish in Lake Stevens.
Homiack said the archdiocese saw an 18% increase in grant applications in 2023, and the total dollars awarded represent an increase of more than 70% over the previous year.
The CRS Rice Bowl initiative combines prayer, fasting and almsgiving to help those who face hunger and food insecurity around the world, as well as locally. The iconic cardboard collection box has been a Lenten mainstay on dinner tables and in classrooms for almost 40 years, with donations from all participants totaling more than $330 million to date.