Most people WANT to make a contribution to charities, but many have no idea which ones to donate to, and how much of their money actually goes through to the people in need on the other end. So, they usually end up not donating at all, except for maybe some clothes to the Goodwill every now and then.
So what should you do?
First, do research. Read up on different charities you can donate to, perhaps more local ones if you can find them. Talk to the people from the charities you research and ask them questions. Ask your friends and people you know where they donate to and how much. But if that even seems like too much for you, then just go to FreeRice.com. I heard about Free Rice from a documentary on world hunger and poverty called One Peace At A Time (which was excellent by the way; be sure to pick it up from the library or add it to your Netflix que!). What Free Rice is is a nonprofit game. Several games to choose from to be precise. All you do is play the games and with every correct answer, you donate 10 grains of rice. You can play multiple choice games that test your vocabulary, grammar, famous paintings, chemistry symbols, geography, math and languages like Spanish and French. If you get a question wrong, no grains of rice are donated. Once you get a question correct, the 10 grains of rice are automatically and immediately donated. Your following question will be harder, and your next three consecutive correct answers will progress you to a harder level.
So where do these grains of rice go? They go to the United Nations World Food Programme. And you don't have to have an account to play Free Rice, you can start playing the moment the homepage loads. But you can have an account if you wish to track your totals of donated rice. And the best thing about donating to this charity is it's fun, educational, and addictive. I sat there and played Free Rice the first time I visited the site until I donated about 5,000 grains of rice. And I felt wonderful about it. There's no money lost in the process, it's just grains of rice being directly donated, and Free Rice donates 100 percent of it's earnings. The sponsors that advertise on the site are paying for the rice you donate. As quoted in the FAQ page on FreeRice.com, "FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice. You and other FreeRice players earn it 10 grains at a time. Here is how it works: when you play the game, sponsor banners appear on the bottom of your screen for every correct answer that you choose. The money generated by these banners is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people."
Where does the rice go exactly? The grains of rice goes to hungry countries all over the globe, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Watch a video of free rice being donated in Bangladesh.
So who started this wonderful way to help stop world hunger? His name is John Breen, and he launched the fabulous FreeRice.com in October of 2007. In March 2009, he donated Free Rice to the UN World Food program, and it's been accumulating billions of grains of rice since.
So what are you waiting for? Play Free Rice today, and as many days as you can, and tell all your friends about it who don't know how to contribute to charities or think it's too hard or not worth it! And if you have a blog, promote Free Rice on it by having a banner, which can be found here: Free Rice Banners. You can feed the hungry...grain by grain.