Unemployment, underemployment, illness, disability, or just plain bad luck take many people down the dark road of having to make a choice between food and other vital necessities. Unfortunately, food is typically the "easiest" thing to give up in the struggle to make ends meet.

Food insecurity is an invisible problem. Everyday you come in contact with people who aren't sure when their next meal will be. One of the nearly 50 million people in the USA struggling to find the means to purchase food, may be your co-worker, your friend, your child's playmate, even your own grandmother may silently struggle to stretch her dollars to buy enough food to get through the month.

People facing hunger are everywhere and they encompass every age group. You will find them in the city, the suburbs, and rural areas. They don't usually stand out. Blending in is part of their daily struggle to appear "normal."

During tough times it can be difficult to find ways to help, but there are free ways you can help fight hunger online.

1. Free Rice
Help yourself and help feed the world. It's a simple concept and since 2007 FreeRice.com has helped feed millions of people.

FreeRice.com donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program for each right answer. Twenty grains may not seem like a lot, but it adds up fast. In fact, it has added up to over 63 billion grains so far and the total continues to grow every day.

The site has expanded and now includes quizzes that for the following subjects: Famous Paintings, Chemical Symbols Basic, English Grammar, Geography, World Capitals, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Basic Math, Multiplication Tables.

2. There are a number of sites that will donate to hunger charities with just a click of a mouse including:
The Hunger Site
Hungery Children
Donate 1 Click
The Hunger Fighters
Click to Give

3. Virtual Food Drive Feeding America.org provides everything you need to setup your own online food drive in only 3 steps. Click the "Ways to Give" Link and select "Virtual Food Drive."

4. Goodsearch.com The site offers 5 pages of hunger charities. Choose one and every time you search, the charity will receive a donation.

5. SchoolsFightHunger.org Request a free food drive kit.