Remember The HungerSite with a magic button that generates a cup of rice for the hungry for free? I always wondered if it was a prank. How could it be possible? But of course, it is. By clicking on the button, we are generating advertising revenue for their website, which makes it possible for them to donate a cup of rice to the hungry!

But even though the idea of helping without volunteering services or shelling a dime sounded good, it wasn't enough to make me do it. For some time, I set HungerSite as my homepage on the browser, and clicked on the button everyday before I did anything else. But soon, it got old. I didn't feel like it anymore. What was my cup of rice going to do!

Maybe I needed more value for the click, like a sack of rice instead of a cup. I most certainly needed something to boost my ego. I would have continued to click everyday if I had proof of people benefiting from it; if they met me in person or sent me a youtube video bowing down to me and saying Thank You. I needed something to tell me that I wasn't wasting my time. And not just that, I needed something to tell me that what they benefit from my click outweighs the effort it takes me to click everyday. Now, how is HungerSite supposed to do that? How much more easy can they make this process? They don't ask for money, they don't ask for services, not even time. All they want is a click a day.

Still, my homepage on the browser changed to Google. I went to The HungerSite only once in a while, when I felt philanthropic or guilty and now my visit is down to once every 6 months.

Over time, there were more click-to-donate sites on the web. In fact, this site called Daily Charity has a button that lets you donate to almost every click-to-donate site on the net in one go. So here's truly one site that does promise more value for a click. I can feed the hungry, stop breast cancer, plant more trees, increase illiteracy, prevent extinction of species … all in just one click.


Was that enough for me to do it? Not in the least bit. I needed more.

Recently, a friend's email to Free Rice roused my interest. It is a website with a vocabulary game. For every right answer to a vocabulary question, they donate 20 grains of rice to UN’s World Food Programme that distributes food in some of the world’s poorest countries.


Now, you may ask what English vocabulary and 20 grains of rice can do to the world. But I am told that they donate about 3,200,000,000 grains of rice (444445 cups of rice or 150000 pounds of rice or 7500 sacks of rice @ 20 lbs/sack) via this game every month.

What about English Vocabulary? They say, it will help you:

Formulate your ideas better
Write better papers, emails and business letters
Speak more precisely and persuasively
Comprehend more of what you read
Read faster because you comprehend better
Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT
Perform better at job interviews and conferences
Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
Be more effective and successful at your job

Moreover the game is entertaining and has proved to be quite addictive so far. Tell me I fell for a marketing gimmick or that it is utterly disgusting that it took an entertaining game to provoke me to act, or even that what I am doing is not helping, but I just hope it sticks….. until something better comes my way that requires no clicking either. Some day, maybe fantasizing about a utopian world alone will do. But for now I will do good only if I am done good to!