February 1

ENDING WORLD HUNGER

There’s this site on the internet called freerice.com. I think I’m a little bit obsessed with it! It was thought up by a dad who had two things in mind. One, to improve his kid’s vocabulary. Second, to end world hunger through rice donations. Both of these are lofty and noble goals.

If you haven’t heard of it, this is what happens. After you go on the site, you are given a word and several definition possibilities. You choose correctly and the little wooden bowl on the right side of the screen gets 20 grains of rice. If you choose incorrectly, the bowl gets nothing. There are no penalties for being wrong. You just get bumped down in skill level. It keeps track of how many hundreds of grains of rice you’ve donated. You can also go up in skill level as you get the words right.

There is something so addictive about this game. I’d like to say the only reason is because I’m donating food. Feeding hungry people who otherwise might not get food that day is a very worthy cause! Unfortunately, that’s not my whole reason. The truth is, I’m not much for video games because I don’t see a point, but with freerice.com, you are growing your vocabulary. (A great thing for a kid or a person who has kids. Also, for those who just want to be smarter!) I see a point with this particular game.

I’m also interested in the charitable side of this. It’s funny, but as you go along in the game, you look at the rice you’re racking up in the bowl. You kind of think, “Wow! Look at all the rice I’m donating!” Now before anyone freaks out, I am aware it’s not that much. 600-700 grains of rice isn’t going to save the world. But what if I went on this site everyday? 700 grains of rice in a typical 31 day month is 21,700. What if everyone who reads this story starts growing their vocabularies? Maybe there’s some truth to the possibility of ending world hunger. I know it’s not a cure for all the world‘s hungry, but it certainly is more than I was doing yesterday for them.