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MESA — Students at St. Timothy School heard a firsthand account March 5 of how funds from their second annual Operation Rice Bowl collection transforms lives.

Support the mission.

The global hunger awareness initiative, which coincides with Lent, is a project of Catholic Relief Services.

Thomas Awiapo and his three brothers ate from a single bowl as children. His younger brothers ultimately died of malnutrition. Awiapo survived only because he smelled lunch one day and, at 12, wandered into a Catholic Relief Services-supported school where he found help.

CRS coordinates the annual Operation Rice Bowl collection and sends out speakers like Awiapo to share their story. Awiapo, now a CRS employee in Ghana, will be visiting U.S. schools and churches through April 4.

Here’s a video about Awiapo’s story and U.S. church tour that I found:

Some 12,0000 communities, including St. Timothy, take part in Operation Rice Bowl every year. The effort brings in about $6 million each year annually.

About 75 percent of that funds hunger and poverty projects in 40 countries. The remaining 25 percent supports domestic food pantries and soup kitchens.