Competition in Community: Baylor Rises to the Challenge of Raising Rice
Baylor students, faculty and staff have been invited to participate in a challenge to raise funds for the World Food Programme by playing Freerice, a free online game that allows players to donate rice to families and communities in need by answering multiple-choice questions. The campus communities of Texas Christian University and Texas Tech University will be competing with us to see which campus can raise the most money from September 21 through 24.
Just like with many other free online games and mobile apps, as you play Freerice, advertisements appear on the screen. Viewing these ads generates a monetary donation to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its work saving and changing lives around the world. The more questions you answer correctly, the longer you can keep playing and viewing ads, and the more money you can raise.
In the game these donations are represented by grains of rice. The amount of money generated when you see an ad can vary, but it’s roughly equivalent to what the WFP spends to purchase five grains of rice.
By playing and viewing the ads, you are generating the money that pays for this rice and other needs. This money is used for many types of assistance — not just rice — depending on where needs are greatest. Regardless of the type of assistance, you can be sure that 100% of all funds generated on Freerice go to the WFP, and 93.5% of every payment received by the WFP goes directly toward helping children and their families. Freerice does not keep any of the money it raises.
The “food basket” is what WFP calls the mix of foods provided to people in different places around the world, depending on their emergency and nutritional needs, local customs, and other factors. In countries where rice is a staple part of the diet, WFP provides, on average, about 400 grams of rice per person, per day (for families, including children and adults). This is intended for two meals that include other ingredients to ensure a minimum of 2,100 kilocalories per day. There are approximately 40 to 50 grains of rice in a single gram.
As of August 31, Freerice players have generated 2,846,370,500 grains of rice in 2020, which is equivalent to more than 275,000 meals. Since its inception in 2007, Freerice players have donated enough rice for over 10 million meals for families in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East.
Food assistance is just one of the many ways WFP works to end global hunger. To learn more about the organization, visit wfp.org.
Play Freerice from September 21 through 24 to help Baylor sic TCU and Texas Tech and sic hunger!