Each year, 25 percent of the proceeds collected in the archdiocese through Catholic Relief Services’ Rice Bowl return to help fund the programs of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Typically, Catholic Charities receives about $20,000 annually to help people who use its Dorothy Day Center, Opportunity Center, Family Service Center, North Side Child Development Center, and Higher Ground.

In 2013, Catholic Charities provided more than one million meals to people in need.

The meals went to those who sleep in Catholic Charities’ shelters, to people who have homes but simply cannot afford to put food on the table, to veterans, to children — to anybody who simply stood in line.

Over the years, Catholic Charities has come to depend on funds from CRS Rice Bowl to help those most in need. People throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have helped provide nutrition and the comfort of hot meals. Catholic families who participate in CRS Rice Bowl help people like Verdarrell.

When he first came to Catholic Charities’ Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul, he was scared, desperate and hungry. He remembers crying himself to sleep each night on his mat in the center’s dining room.

Verdarrell soon discovered that while he needed help, he had the power to help himself and others. Just as children, adults and families who contribute to CRS Rice Bowl make a difference for others, so does Verdarrell.

Recently, he transitioned from the floor of the Dorothy Day Center to Catholic Charities’ Mary Hall. He no longer sleeps on the floor, but he does continue to come to the Dorothy Day Center to eat and help prepare the meals for the hungry.

“Now I see why God brought me down here,” he said. “I’m kind of proud of myself. Dorothy Day Center has been my home away from home. I have learned a lot. I gave a lot. It changed me. It made me a better person.”