Operation Rice Bowl Began at STM
In 1974, the First Presbyterian Church and St. Thomas More formed Operation Rice Bowl in the Allentown area as an ecumenical Lenten program of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
The money saved on food goes to the local Rice Bowl fund and then on to world relief agencies. More than $6000 was sent to the Missionary Sisters of Charity as part of the initial ecumenical Lenten exercise. It was Msgr. Coll and Rev. Bill Barker of First Presbyterian, who helped conceive the idea of Operation Rice Bowl, which was adopted as a nationwide program by the 41st International Eucharistic Congress.
More than 42 years later, Catholic Relief Services continues this program, in which more than 15,000 parishes, schools, and other faith communities across the United States demonstrate solidarity with poor people around the world. An outgrowth of that first Operation Rice Bowl campaign was the visit of Mother Teresa to Allentown and the 2,200 people of St. Thomas More parish on April 27th, 1976.
