With the recent economic crisis in full effect, many students are feeling the pressures of shortage all around. Students are struggling to support themselves financially even with the help of families, scholarships and loans. Yet, many students feel it is their duty to find the time to care for people in other countries who are less fortunate than even themselves. John Breen, a 52-year-old computer programmer, has created a game that allows us to donate rice to starving people in other countries. His Web site, Free Rice, was founded in October 2007 to raise awareness and help put a stop to world hunger.

Unfortunately, with so many people suffering worldwide, it has become somewhat of an impossibility for individuals to donate significant amounts of money. However, with the creation of click-to-donate Web sites, people have the ability to donate without falling behind themselves.

Free Rice is an uncomplicated solution that not only aids in feeding the hungry, but also further improves knowledge. It is an addictive trivia game that allows users to donate 10 grains of rice for every correct question answered. The game began as a simple vocabulary game but now has questions that range from subjects on chemistry to language learning to geography. If a user happens to get a question wrong, the computer stores it and asks it again within a few questions, giving users the opportunity to gain complete comprehension of the material being reviewed.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 1.02 billion people are going hungry every day, and they estimate the numbers to continue to rise throughout this year and into the next. Jennifer Parmelee, a public affairs officer for the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) says that this is the first time in human history in which more than a billion people are affected by world hunger. The FAO’s 2008 annual report, in which they address food security, agriculture and development economics, attributes this rise to “soaring food prices [which have] resulted in the highest single increase in hunger since 1990-92.” These economic hardships facing the global community are having the most devastating effects on the poverty-stricken.

Today, there are 22 developed countries that have pledged to donate 0.7 percent less than one percent of their national income to international aid. The United States has made the pledge but has no scheduled date to meet the goal. Out of the 22 countries, only five have succeeded in accomplishing their entire pledge: Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands. According to UNWFP, it would ideally cost $195 billion a year to effectively end hunger and extreme poverty in the world. This cost would be met if all 22 countries were to fulfill their annual pledge.

Free Rice was donated to the UNWFP in hopes that it could generate more publicity and reach a wider range of people.

“WFP doesn’t have any advertising marketing budget so we have not advertised [the] Free Rice game,” said Dena Gudaitis, public information officer for the UNWFP. “The concept has become enormously popular through spreading the word by people around the world who heard about the program, visited the Web site, and have played the game. We are very proud of the project and its continuing efforts to provide food (rice) as well as raise awareness for the plight of the world’s hungry.”

The Free Rice Web site is run on a sponsorship program in which corporations donate the money for the rice and, in return, receive advertising space on the Web site. A significant benefit of this Web site is that the money donated is then used to purchase rice in impoverished countries which further gives back to their communities and assists in pulling them out of the poverty cycle. The success of this Web site has been growing exponentially since its inception. While 10 grains may not seem like much to the average person, it quickly makes a considerable difference when it multiplies. To this day, Free Rice has donated enough rice to feed millions of starving people. In August alone, 787,320,460 grains of rice were donated to several countries around the world, including Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

According to Julie Marshall, communications consultant for the UNWFP, “The Free Rice site has been extremely successful for the World Food Program (WFP), [and that success is measured] in people educated on the hunger issue and people fed! [Since its development,] over 3,500,000 people have been fed.  Because Free Rice’s true strength lies in the sheer number of people playing the game, individuals can also make a difference simply by spreading the word. An entry in Facebook referring to Free Rice or a well-placed banner linking to the site from a blog can set-off a chain reaction across the Web resulting in countless other people playing the game and helping to feed the hungry.”