Vocab for nothing and the rice for free

Sites bring foodies and word nerds to hunger relief

WEB. A grain of rice isn’t much — until it meets the power of the Internet. When bored Web surfers met hunger relief at freerice.com, more than 12 billion grains of rice were raised for the United Nations World Food Program in just three months, enough to feed more than half a million people.

But perhaps even more crucial than the rice itself is the message behind the site.

“Most importantly, it reaches out to a huge audience and raises awareness about world hunger,” says Bettina Luescher of the World Food Program. Nearly a million people a day visit the site, a simple idea that’s grown into a phenomenon.

The site was born when computer programmer John Breen saw his son preparing for the SAT and realized how useful and addictive vocabulary practice could be. He started free-rice.com by matching a simple vocab quiz with an inspiring reward: for ever correct answer, 10 grains of rice, paid for by site advertisers, are donated to the hungry. The number has since jumped to 20 grains for each correct definition, but some grains are harder to come by. What in the world does “hawser” mean, anyway?

“You can be a 10-year-old school child or a 55-year-old rocket scientist,” says Luescher. “Both are having fun, are learning new words and doing something good at the same time.”

While freerice.com is a simple site (and successful for its refreshing single purpose), it’s not the only place where food and philanthropy come together. Food blog Chez Pim (www.chez-pim.com) recently raised more than $90,000 in their seasonal fundraiser.

“That’s a wonderful success for a two-weeklong effort by foodies,” says Luescher. “I think they loved how they could turn their interest in cooking into food for hungry and poor people.”

Meanwhile, the WFP created a “Food Force” video game (www.foodforce.com), which is sort of like “The Sims” meets Angelina Jolie’s to-do list.

The downloadable game allows gamers to play the role of aid workers in the middle of a crisis (albeit one with no violence, despite having plenty of action).

“Children especially love how they can really help,” says Luescher of the online food sites. “It gives them a real sense of accomplishment.” With a pile of rice 12 billion grains high, it’s an accomplishment that can’t be ignored.