This is way off topic but I am concerned about it going out without comment.

In a message dated 7/29/99 12:03:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Susan in
Australia wrote

<< Just found this wonderful site, from a midwifery list. If everyone clicks
on the sponsors logo, they donate enough per click to feed one hungry
(breastfeeding, of course!) person per day.   If everyone visits regularly,
we could make a real difference!   http://www.thehungersite.com/  >>

I have been to this site (and clicked on the logo) when it first opened a
couple of months ago.  My first response to it was as enthusiastic as yours.
But -- at the risk of sounding like Scrooge -- I've learned things since that
make me less enthusiastic.

This group doesn't help a long-term food supply in the places they donate
too.  What I hear from my aid-organization sources is that by donating actual
staple foods to places where people are already struggling to grow enough
food, the long term effect is to lower the price of food -- which makes it
even harder economically for farmers to grow it, which in turn means that,
when this organization's food drop is eaten up tomorrow or the day after, the
local people may be even hungrier than they were before.

This site is truly a good thing for education about world hunger.   But I
don't think it's a good substitute for writing checks to organizations that
actually try to help increase the food supply in hungry places -- and there's
some question whether the donations themselves do more harm than good.   So
please think twice before becoming a daily clicker...


Elisheva Urbas
NYC

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