Clicking to Help

With so many bad things happening in the world - natural disasters, hunger, epidemics, homelessness, and unemployment to name a few - the average person can click off the news or throw down a paper and feel horrible. I often do this, shake my head, and say, "How can I help?"

Thanks to the Internet, it is now possible for anyone to visit a number of sites and with a mere mouse click actually help out. I suggest you make a folder in your bookmarks devoted to these sites, that way you can find them and click on them every day. Or, if you use FireFox, you can always add them to your bookmarks bar, that way it's right in front!

How do these websites work? Well, usually it has to do with advertisers. While just a small portion is donated for each person who visits/clicks/plays each day, with the millions of people who use the Internet every day it could make a significant impact. And really, what's the harm? You are not transmitting any personal data as these sites are all safe and if there's a chance to help, why not?

Here are just a few sites where it's possible to click and donate, please feel free to comment with others. Note that some sites may contain duplicate causes and in that case you will only be able to click once per day:

Free Rice - Play trivia games and each correct answer donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Programme
Bhookh - One click helps fight hunger in India
Free Kibble - Answer a trivia question (right or wrong) to donate dog kibble to animal shelters
Free Kibble Cat - Answer a trivia question (right or wrong) to donate cat kibble to animal shelters
The Hunger Site - Click to donate food, this site also connects to five other sites for breast cancer, children's health, literacy, the rain forest, and animal rescue.
Care2 - A catch-all site that has a bar on the left side of the page with a list of charities from cancer to hunger to saving animals. The site will check off each one that you have clicked
One Click At A Time - Another catch-all site with so many different causes to click for
The NonProfits - A third catch-all with a lot of clickable causes

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi