You Should Play Free Rice

This morning, triggered by Mashable’s article 20 Ways to Change the World in Only 15 Minutes a Day, I decided to start playing FreeRice again.  My husband, it turned out, had never heard of it.  Based on this travesty and the fact that others out there may not have heard of it either, I thought I better share.

FreeRice is a simple (but not always easy) multiple choice game from the UN World Food Program.  For every answer you get correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to those in need in an effort to end world hunger.  10 grains may not sound like much, but it certainly adds up–I managed 2000 just this morning.  Moreover, FreeRice makes this point on their site:

The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it.

According to the United Nations, 25,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children.

Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007.

FreeRice was one of the few “games” students were allowed to play online at the school I previous worked at, and for good reason:

Learning new vocabulary has tremendous benefits. It can help you:

• Formulate your ideas better
• Write better papers, emails and business letters
• Speak more precisely and persuasively
• Comprehend more of what you read
• Read faster because you comprehend better
• Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
• Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT
• Perform better at job interviews and conferences
• Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
• Be more effective and successful at your job (from FreeRice.com)

Also, I just discovered this morning that in addition to English vocabulary, FreeRice has categories for Art (Famous Paintings), Chemistry, English Grammar, Geography, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Basic Math and the Multiplication Table.  Something for everyone!

So really, what do you have to lose?  More than likely, you’re wasting plenty of time online.  Make some of it count by donating rice to those in need.

Help “Stamp Out Hunger”

Yesterday in the mail we got a postcard about something really awesome.

The event is the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive and its being done by the National Association of Letter Carriers.  Apparently this is the fifteenth year, but I’ve never heard about it before.  It’s so simple, anyone can do it: just put a bag of non-perishable goods next to your mailbox on Saturday (check to see if your mail carrier is participating).  I’ve written before about how hunger is a huge problem in this country.  According to the site, 35 million Americans are hungry or living on the brink of hunger.  There’s no reason why that should be the case and no reason why we can’t help.  You barely even have to leave the house.

April Food Day

My Man, though ridiculously supportive of my recent obsession with flexitarianism, is a little suspect of the trend.  Isn’t it more important, he keeps asking in response to rantings about the White House vegetable garden, to make sure that everyone has food to eat before we get so concerned about whether the food we are eating is organic?  Isn’t some food better than no food?

He makes a good point, one to which I generally concede.  For that reason, I’m very excited to have just learned about April Food Day.  The purpose of the April Food Day blog is to educate readers about hunger, and encourage them to do something about it, especially donate to Feeding America.  They note “Every dollar you contribute provides seven meals or 10 pounds of food. A $25 gift provides 75 meals.”  Wow.

My Man is right.  It’s easy to discuss the perks of various restaurants, but with the increasingly worsening economic slump, more and more people are finding themselves without employment, and without food.  I don’t think there’s any debate that food is important.  So, instead of trying to play April Fools tricks on everyone you meet, why not donate to Feeding America, your local food pantry or some other organization that’s working to fulfill this basic human need.