Feeding the hungry - one grain of rice at a time
Chatty wants to tell you about The Rice Game.
This is a fun online game, but even more importantly, it’s a way to send food to those in need – at no cost to yourself except for the time you spend playing.
According to the news story Chatty saw on TV a couple of days ago, it was started by a father as a vocabulary game to help his son improve his vocabulary skills while preparing for the SATs. It really took off – teachers started using it, students responded – and it spread to the general population, because it’s such fun to play.
At some point, the father decided maybe he could do more, because so many people were playing his game – hence the idea to find sponsors that donate 20 grains of rice for each correct answer. The organization he contacted to handle things is the United Nations World Food Program, the largest food aid organization in the world. In 2006, WFP food aid reached 87.8 million people in 78 countries. Now, because of an online game, the WFP has been able to provide many more thousands of tons of rice for those in need.
According to The Rice Game’s masthead: “For each word you get right we donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program to help end hunger.”
Check out their FAQ section for more details.
Any of you out there with children facing SATs – please pass this game on to them, because aside from all the good it does, it’s a painless way to improve one’s vocabulary – that’s why it was originally created, after all!
If you just want to play the game, click here
If you want to know more about the World Food Program, click here
If you want to know specifically where the rice goes, click here
And, as long as Chatty is talking about easy – and free - ways to contribute to good causes, please check out The Breast Cancer Site when you have a moment, if you haven’t already done so.
For each 45,000 clicks, a sponsor will pay for a mammogram for someone who can’t afford one. You can only click once a day, so you might like to bookmark the site and go there to click whenever you think about it.
Feeding the hungry and breast cancer prevention – both just a mouse-click away. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Chatty loves it when the Internet is used to harness the efforts of good people to accomplish wonderful things!
wow!
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Love the freerice game. My son has been using it to study vocab for his S.A.T.'s.
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Thank you, Chatty! I knew about the breast cancer site, but the rice game is new to me. I will have my older boys try it out with me!
For all the bad out there, it is a joy to hear some GOOD news!
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