Recently, members of SFS ran a food drive for food insecure populations around the world. The Feeding the World event was made possible through FreeRice.com, a trivia game website that uses ad money to pay for people stricken by poverty to receive rice and other necessities through the World Food Program.
The event was a big success with 127,266 grains of rice raised. About 80 people participated through SFS. However, you can participate any time you’d like on the website by answering simple questions about a variety of topics. The website has gamified the whole donation system to keep their users playing the game and generating ad revenue for the rice. You can choose trivia questions that range from climate change to Roman history. My favorite is english proverbs: https://freerice.com/categories/proverbs
As you play Freerice and answer questions right, advertisements appear on your screen. When you see one of these advertisements, you trigger a financial payment to the World Food Programme (WFP). In the game, these payments are represented via grains of rice. The amount of money generated when you see an advertisement can vary, but is roughly equivalent to what the World Food Programme spends to purchase 5 grains of rice.
100% of all funds generated on Freerice go to the World Food Programme, and 93.5% of every payment received by the World Food Programme goes directly towards helping children and their families. Freerice does not earn or keep any money it raises. Ad revenue can be used for other food items and necessities. In countries where rice is a staple part of the diet, WFP provides, on average, about 400 grams of rice per person, per day. During the Coronavirus pandemic, and famines in countries like Yemen, the WFP has provided lifesaving assistance for nearly 138 million people. Their mission is going to become even larger as the effects of climate change rack the third world first and foremost.
The question might arise, “What happens if a company has not sponsored an ad on the site when you answer a question correctly?” Sometimes there are no ads to play, but some ads can pay for about 40 grains of rice, keeping the average around 5.
If you would prefer to make a larger donation all at once, you can donate to the World Food Programme yourself at https://www.wfpusa.org/ and help fight world hunger.