3547 Clifton Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
Phone: 513-861-1295
Pastor: Rev. Todd Grogan
OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
THE
CHURCH
OF THE
A
NNUNCIATION
Catholic Parish
Operation Rice Bowl 2012
The Lenten Outreach Project for All Annunciation parishioners and all Annunciation Parish School students is Operation Rice Bowl. Operation Rice Bowl is the official Lenten Program of Catholic Relief Services. Participation in Operation Rice Bowl is a way to respect human dignity and foster solidarity with the poor around the world.
Operation Rice Bowl begins on Ash Wednesday (February 22, 2012) and concludes on Holy Thursday (April 5, 2012). Rice Bowls will be inserted in our Parish Sunday Bulletin and distributed to all parishioners on Sunday, February 19, 2012. Rice Bowls will be distributed to all school students on Wednesday, February 22, 2012.
Operation Rice Bowl is an extremely interactive approach to living the traditional Lenten disciplines of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Seventy-five percent of your gifts will help fund Catholic Relief Services' development projects around the world, in countries such as: Madagascar, Vietnam, El Salvador, Zambia, and India. Twenty-five percent of your gifts support hunger and poverty alleviation efforts in dioceses in the United States.
*Download the 2012 Operation Rice Bowl Lenten Calendar here.
*Download the 2012 Operation Rice Bowl Placemat here .
*Download 2012 Operation Rice Bowl Featured Countries Recipes here.
*Download the 2012 Operation Rice Bowl Educator's Guide here.
*For bonus lesson plans on India, click here.
*For a Lenten Prayer Egg activity for the featured countries, click here.
*Take the Operation Rice Bowl World Awareness Quiz here.
*Download an Operation Rice Bowl Stations of the Cross Handout here.
Our Annunciation School students will return their Rice Bowl collections to their classrooms the week of April 1, 2012. Students' Rice Bowl collections will be collected and blessed at Prayer at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 4th.
Annunciation Parishioners will bring their Rice Bowl collections to the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 5th, 2012 (Holy Thursday). Rice Bowls will be brought forward at the Preparation of the Gifts that evening.
For more information about Operation Rice Bowl, click here.
2012 Operation Rice Bowl Featured Countries
*Click on each highlighted country!
Madagascar
Robin is a farmer in Madagascar living in a dry part of the country. But thanks to Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the farms in his community are thriving. Before CRS came to his village, farmers spent many hours carrying water buckets to their crops. When CRS gave the farmers a new pump, their productivity changed dramatically, so did their lives. Now they water three times as much land in half the time it took with a bucket. Today, Mr. Robin grows corn, lettuce, sorghum, cucumbers, pumpkins, and orange trees.
Photo by Sara A. Fajardo/Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
Vietnam
Finding services and programs for disabled students was a challenge for Giap and his family living in Hanoi. But recently Giap started a web design business after enrolling in a residential school for students with disabilities. There he and his fellow students gained skills and confidence to work in the growing field of web design. With support from Catholic Relief Services, Giap’s school offers programs and accommodations for students who are blind or physically disabled so they can fulfill their potential and realize their dreams.
Photo by Laura Sheahen/Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
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El Salvador
María Idalia Serrano lives with her husband and four children in El Pedregal, El Salvador. For most of her life, each day revolved around collecting water from the river. A few years ago CRS helped build a well in her village. Now 130 families in El Pedregal have faucets that bring clean water right to our homes. Instead of traveling back and forth to the river Maria spends more time with her children, to watch and guide them. CRS also taught the families to use water purifying pills to make sure the water is safe to drink. Now, Maria and her husband volunteer with CRS teaching their neighbors that using purified water can help prevent health problems.
Photo by Silverlight for Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
Zambia
In’utu Kokola and her husband are farmers living in Mongu, Zambia. Recently In’utu Kokola opened a shop in the market where she sells vegetables and corn meal from her farm. She didn’t believe this day would ever come, but it did thanks to a Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC) started with the help of Catholic Relief Services. In a SILC, the group saves money and makes small, interest bearing loans together. With her market stall, In’utu Kokola and her husband now have a reliable income to feed their family, buy medicine and pay school fees for their grandchildren.
Photo by Kim Pozniak/Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
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India
Thirteen year old Gulsana has a big heart. When the community health worker from Catholic Relief Services told her family her little sister needed to eat more food to gain a healthy weight, she became the family’s advocate for health. Gulsana convinced her father that the dried powder nutritional supplement provided by the government was good food for the toddler by making a sweet pudding and letting her father taste it first. Gulsana is happy to see two-year-old Shabnam looking healthier and moving around and playing more.
Photo by Laura Sheahen/Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
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Arlington, VA
Every year 25% of the dollars and coins contributed through Operation Rice Bowl remain in each diocese in the United States where it is collected. This year, the diocese of Arlington, Virginia takes center stage as a representative of the good works being done with Operation Rice Bowl proceeds around the country. As brothers and sisters of this one human family, the hunger of one is known to all. The diocese of Arlington uses its Operation Rice Bowl funds to support food programs in Virginia.
Photo by Jennifer Swope/Catholic Relief Services
© Catholic Relief Services
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Weekly Operation Rice Bowl Reflections
Prepare the Way: Reflection for Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Return to a Right Relationship With God: Reflection for the Week of February 26, 2012
Experiencing a New Life With Hope and Stability: Reflection for the Week of March 4, 2012
Cleanse the Temple and Make More Room for God: Reflection for the Week of March 11, 2012
From Darkness Into Light: Reflection for the Week of March 18, 2012
God’s Law, Written Upon Our Hearts: Reflection for the Week of March 25, 2012
Entering Holy Week: Reflection for the Week of April 1, 2012
Happy Easter!: Reflection for the Week of April 8, 2012
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