Helping hands - web site that donates food to the hungry - Brief Article

Vegetarian Times, Oct, 2000 by Abigail Chipley

Now you can help feed the hungry by simply lifting a finger--literally. Every time you visit thehungersite.com and click on a button that says "Donate Free Food," you'll be adding to the delivery of food staples like rice and other grains to some of the 800 million people around the world who suffer from hunger and malnutrition.

Having a hard time believing it could be so easy? The explanation lies in the power of good pr. For far less than the cost of regular old advertising, the 6-month-old site's many corporate partners get to attach their names to a great cause by agreeing to donate one and a half cups of food each time someone clicks. The donations are then delivered to those in need by the United Nation's World Food Programme.

So by merely eyeballing a few corporate logos, you add to the impressive 10,163 tons of edibles that thehungersite.com has already generated and join the 77 million other visitors to the site, which is hosted by the Seattle-based online store GreaterGood.com.

The only catch is that you can donate just once a day. But one look at the site's "hunger map" may be enough to convince you to bookmark thehungersite.com. Every 3.6 seconds, a person dies of hunger, a grim statistic that is signified on the map by a country flashing black.