With more than one billion people, mainly women and children, in the world suffering from hunger, it is certainly time that those of us who have 3 meals a day take action. It is easy to think that one person can do little to help the situation but if thousands of ‘one person’ take action, much can be achieved.

The Facts

1.02 billion people are hungry

Over 25% of all the children under five years of age in the developing world, are moderately underweight, or worse.

One in six people don’t have enough food to be healthy.

Almost one in three people have disabilities or die early due to hunger-related issues.

Every three minutes a child dies of hunger somewhere in the world.

Hunger exists in wealthy western countries, not only third world countries.

Here are 5 ways I have found that can make a difference to world hunger.

freerice.com is a website where you play simple online word games to earn rice that is distributed through the United Nations World Food Program. You simply answer multiple-choice questions about word meanings; for every answer you get correct, Freerice.com donates 10 grains of rice. This may seem insignificant, but in its first month of operation alone, Freerice donated more than one million grains of rice. It is simple, fast and free; you help end world hunger and improve your vocabulary at the same time. Add the site to your bookmarks and get into the habit of visiting every day. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. thehungersite.com is another website where you can easily help the world’s hungry. You simply go to the site, click on the button and 1.1 cups of food will be donated to feed the hungry at home and overseas. The donations are funded by the advertisers on the site with 100% of fees going to the non-profit organizations that alleviate world hunger. It is free, takes just a few seconds and makes a difference so get into the daily habit of visiting and clicking. You can also shop online from thehungersite.com, ordering fair trade goods that are well priced, with proceeds also going to feed the hungry. Help at home: it isn’t only Africa and other third world countries where hunger exists, there are thousands of hungry people in most so-called wealthy countries around the world. Wherever you live, there will be organizations, soup kitchens and shelters that provide food for those who can’t feed themselves. Volunteer your time or skills within your local area and help to stamp out hunger close to home. Help them to help themselves: the problem with many third world communities is that they have insufficient knowledge or skills to produce their own food. People have been displaced by war, drought or famine. They may not have the tools or the land to grow food. There are numerous humanitarian organizations that send volunteers into areas to provide clean water, solar power and education about nutrition, farming, food production and marketing. Instead of just providing handouts, they are helping the people help themselves and giving them the infrastructure and skills to be able to provide food and income for themselves, their families and their communities. You can help by donating money, tools or volunteering your time and expertise. Lobby your local politicians: the tough decisions on world hunger need to be made by world leaders. The power of the people cannot be underestimated so we all need to lobby our local, state and national politicians to take a stand on world hunger. By addressing hunger at a local level first, the world’s leaders start to change the state of world hunger for the better.

Much has been done to address hunger in the past ten years but there is still a lot to do. These 5 ways to end world hunger will cost you little but will have a huge effect on those who don’t enjoy three meals a day.

So, are you going to work with me to try and end world hunger? I hope so.