2nd Collection: Catholic Relief Services

The weekend of May 18/19, 2024, there will be a second collection to benefit Catholic Relief Services (CRS). When we as parishioners participate in the collection, we support grants to organizations that not only aid people with urgent needs, such as victims of wars and disasters, but also help solve long-term challenges like environmental destruction.

Climate change, pollution, soil depletion, and drought impact our environment, with devastating consequences for the people living in places affected by these conditions. For this reason, the Catholic Church teaches that environmental responsibility and care for the poor are closely linked. Informed by these teachings as the official overseas relief agency of the bishops of the United States, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is making a difference in the lives of Kenyan families affected by an acute regional water crisis. By rehabilitating water systems, building water access points, and delivering feed supplements for livestock affected by lack of water and pasture, CRS is helping Kenyans in severe need. More than 1.2 million people have benefited from this life-giving program of water resource repair and healthy rangeland management.

Elsewhere, CRS is helping families in Zambia improve nutrition outcomes through its Food and Nutrition Security Enhanced Resilience (FANSER) project. Zambian parents are trained in the FANSER program to learn how food hygiene and gardening skills will help them grow nutrient-rich foods year-round and lower the risk of food-borne diseases. Through the efforts of CRS-trained FANSER participants, minimum dietary diversity—defined as access to five out of eight food groups—has improved from 56.8% to 66.5% for women, and from 34% to 64% for children between the ages of 6 months and 23 months.

Your support of the Catholic Relief Services Collection makes lifesaving, positive impacts in the lives of people affected by environmental catastrophe and poverty in Africa and throughout the world every day. Please be as generous as your means allow.