Free Rice to Feed the Hungry...

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An internet word game has generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has said.

The game, FreeRice, tests the vocabulary of participants. For each click on a correct answer, the website donates money to buy 10 grains of rice. Companies advertising on the website provide the money to the WFP to buy and distribute the rice. FreeRice went online in early October and has now raised 1bn grains of rice. That is enough rice to feed 50,000 people for one day, the WFP said on Friday.

'Viral marketing'

The head of the WFP, Josette Sheeran, said: "FreeRice really hits home how the web can be harnessed to raise awareness and funds for he world's number one emergency." She said word of the game has spread with the help of internet bloggers and websites like Facebook and YouTube.

"The site is a viral marketing success story." FreeRice is the invention of US online fundraising pioneer John Breen.

THE WEBSITE :- http://www.freerice.com/

What a fantastic idea!!

How many grains of rice can the Jesup club generate?

Click on the website and try your luck..

Press

“What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world? Well, at FreeRice it does . . . the totals have grown exponentially.

                                                                                 - The Washington Post

“Web game provides rice for hungry . . . FreeRice went online in early October and has now raised 1 billion grains of rice [by November 9].”

                                                                                   - BBC News

“Addictive, yes. But . . . each correct answer results in the donation of rice to help feed the hungry around the globe. Perhaps that qualifies the game as a good addiction . . . one with redeeming qualities, something that’s, oh, didactic and edifying.”

                                                                                 - Kansas City Star

“People from all walks of life and from around the globe have written in to express their appreciation for the game . . . Secretaries admit to playing it during boring business meetings.”

                                                                                   - Christian Science Monitor

“Every grain of rice is essential in the fight against hunger . . . FreeRice really hits home how the Web can be harnessed to raise awareness and funds for the world’s number one emergency.”

                                                                                   - UN World Food Program

“A teacher of fourth and fifth graders on the Yurok Indian reservation in Klamath, CA, . . . emailed the WFP. ‘My students absolutely LOVE the free rice site. Almost daily they earn several thousand grains of rice!’ she wrote. ‘You cannot imagine the joy in my heart when I look out and see 25 kids doing vocabulary work and enjoying it.’”

                                                                                     - School Library Journal

“The Web site offers a greater gift, the gift of awareness about world hunger.”

                                                                                     - NPR National Public Radio

“Freerice.com is an international, viral sensation. Folks from Thailand to Germany and India are just as enthusiastic . . . improving thousands of lives, all with a simple, collective, click of a mouse.”

                                                                                    - CBS Evening News