Freerice.com

Looking for a website that helps educate while attempting to combat world hunger?
You’re in luck. Freerice.com is a charity website that allows users to play an interactive vocabulary game where each correct answer allows 20 grains of rice to be donated through the United Nations.

The site was created back in October by John Breen, a computer programmer from Ohio who got the idea for the site as he watched his son study for the SAT. Breen is also the creator of www.thehungersite.com, therainforestsite.com, and poverty.com, all sites devoted to charitable giving.

A PCSpy blog posted in November answered some questions about how the site works.

First of all, the game itself is quite simple. Users are given a word and four definitions. For each word the user gets correct, Freerice.com donates 20 grains of rice via the United Nations.  The more words you get correct, the harder the words get. The site also updates each player on his or her current vocabulary level.

So how much rice is given away? The site actually publishes its totals daily. 136,236,930 grains of rice were donated on November 11th, 2007, for example. Based on these totals, enough rice to feed more than 7,000 people had been donated as of Decmeber 28th, 2007.  The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Programme.

How is the site paid for? One word—advertisements. Sponsors donate money to pay for the rice and other expenses in exchange for their ads to be placed on the site.

And therein lies the rub: The PCSpy blog does express some criticism of Breen and his site, mostly because it isn’t a registered charity and thus does not offer financial transparency. While this is a valid point, one can’t argue with the fact that the site had donated ten billion grains of rice as of December 19th, 2007 (which was over a month ago), totaling over $100,000. Unregistered charity or not, the site, as PCSpy blog notes, is still a noble idea.