Lent fundraising proceeds to be sent to Aleppo and Addis Ababa.

Each year during the six weeks of Lent, Churches Together, an ecumenical fellowship comprising 12 mainly English-speaking churches in Rome, raises money for the Rice Bowl Appeal.

This year the annual campaign is raising funds for a refugee camp near Aleppo in Syria, which offers refuge for around 1,000 Muslims, Kurds and Christians; as well as funding the Bright Star project which provides education and training for poor children and their families in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The idea behind the Rice Bowl initiative, which has been in operation for more than three decades, is to encourage people to eat less for one meal a day during the 40 days of abstinence leading up to Easter and to donate the money saved.

Donations can be made until 16 April at the 12 participating churches, where full details of the fundraising campaign can also be found.

All Saints’ (Church of England), Via del Babuino 153B.

Church of Sweden, Via Bertoloni 1E.

Evangelical Lutheran Church, Via Sicilia 70.

International Christian Fellowship (Assemblies of God), Via XX Settembre 88.

Ponte S. Angelo Methodist Church, Via del Banco di S. Spirito 3.

Rome Baptist Church, Piazza S. Lorenzo in Lucina 35.

Salvation Army, Via degli Apuli 42.

St Andrew’s Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), Via XX Settembre 7.

St Paul’s Within the Walls (Episcopal), Via Napoli 58.

St Patrick’s Church (Irish), Via Boncompagni 60.

St Silvestro Church (Catholic), Piazza S. Silvestro.

St Susanna Catholic Church (American), Via XX Settembre 15.