Peabody students learn to feed the hungry worldwide

PEABODY-Students at the Higgins Middle School are increasing their vocabulary, supplying Third World countries with dietary staples, and donating food to a local charity all by playing a computer game.FreeRice is a non-profit, Internet-based game designed in partnership with Poverty.com and the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP) to help end world hunger and build an English vocabulary.Cullen Memorial Librarian Sudi Smoller decided to bring the program into the Higgins in December as part of the school?s Support Month, and organized a friendly competition between the five seventh-grade clusters?We thought we could support an endeavor of some sort, and when we learned about FreeRice, which is so exciting, we thought, ?Why not support the World Food Program and vocabulary,” said Smoller. “It turned out to be a lesson on the United Nations, food distribution, and an opportunity to show them a cool game they can play anytime.”When students log onto www.freerice.com from within the Cullen Memorial Library, they are prompted to start testing their vocabulary. A word appears on the screen with a list of possible correct definitions below. For each correct answer, 20 grains of rice is donated to the UNWFP.For example, “antithesis means:” might appear on the screen with the following options underneath: “voters, opposite, pennant, or solitude.” If the student guesses correctly (opposite), they move on to the next level, which increases in difficulty each time. The game maxes out at level 55, although the site states most people don?t make it past level 48.?The kids love the game,” said Smoller, adding that some even call it addicting. “I did warn them that they?re going to get smart if they play.”To localize the program, the library will match each donation with a contribution to Haven from Hunger, the North Shore?s largest non-profit food pantry.?It helps bring it alive to them,” said Smoller, who will use library funds to purchase the rice to be donated.Since starting the program less than three months ago, students have earned 1,076,370 grains of rice for a total of 35 pounds. Smoller said that she plans to wait until all the seventh grade students have had a chance to participate before donating to the Haven.Money generated from advertisements on the Freerice.com pays for the rice distributed by The United Nations World Food Program. The organization purchases rice from local farmers and dispenses it as part of their food rations to starving nations across the globe, varying locations every so often. Rice earned during this time around will benefit the hungry in Uganda, Nicaragua, and Cambodia.?It?s just a win-win thing,” said Smoller. “Everyone doing this small thing is making a big difference.”