FORT LORAMIE — Taste and See: El Salvador is an annual Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl Program initiative that this year will be in St. Michael Hall, Fort Loramie, at 5:30 p.m., March 20.

Seventy-five percent of CRS Rice Bowl donations are allocated to global solidarity efforts to alleviate poverty. Twenty-five percent of donations collected in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are distributed to local agencies.

A few local agencies who received a CRS Rice Bowl grant in 2016 include Holy Angels Soup Kitchen, Sidney; Rustic Hope, Russia, and St. Vincent de Paul, Fort Loramie. Each week during Lent, CRS Rice Bowl spotlights one of the seven Catholic social teaching themes.

Taste and See El Salvador is an opportunity for the public to learn about global neighbors and to empower global justice initiatives. The free March 20 event begins with a simple Salvadoran supper which is vegetarian and gluten-free, followed by a short presentation via video conferencing by Roberto Navarro, CRS south west regional director, on current events in El Salvador and the works of CRS in El Salvador. The event will close with several rapid learning stations spotlighting other organizations in El Salvador with a global solidarity mission, including Maryknoll Lay Missioners, Sponsorship with Unbound, the NFL Pastoral Region Sister-Parish Team, and Christians for Peace in El Salvador.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the program concludes at 8:45 p.m. The public is welcome. The event is free by reservations are requested. To make a reservation, email [email protected] or call 937-295-2891, ext. 105. Walk-ins are also welcome.