Western Union rallies consumers and supporters with the aim to stock
libraries in China's 31 provinces
BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payment
services, today invited the global Chinese community to join a Chinese
New Year drive. The goal is to gift the China Youth Development
Foundation 31 libraries of 1,000 books, enough for each of mainland
China's 31 provinces.
Drina Yue, Managing Director and SVP, Western Union Asia-Pacific, hands-over giant sized book to Mr. Chunlei Yang, Deputy Secretary General of the China Youth Development Foundation, at Western Union's 31,000 Book Drive for China's provinces. (Photo: Business Wire)
Upholding the Chinese tradition of red envelope, "??," gifting of cash
during Chinese New Year, Western Union will make a gift to the China
Youth Development Foundation for every transaction sent from one of 21
countries to China during the promotional period.
The company will also donate for every “like” of its post about the
campaign on Facebook, and for every “re-Tweet” of its program
announcement on Twitter. The program enables consumers to promote
education for children in need, just by using or “liking” Western Union.
The 21 participating countries are the United States and Canada in North
America; the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Italy and Russia in Europe and Central Asia; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
and the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East; Angola in Africa;
Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia in Asia Pacific; and Brazil,
Peru, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay in Latin America.
“Western Union's analysis shows more gifts are given at Chinese New Year
than during any festive or seasonal holiday around the world. Billions
of gifts of cash are exchanged, traditionally crisp new banknotes
wrapped in red envelopes, and increasingly through remittances, with
over 40 million Chinese living and working overseas," said Drina Yue,
managing director and senior vice president, Western Union Asia-Pacific.
“As we reach out to friends and family in China in the lead-up to
Chinese New Year, just by using Western Union we are creating
opportunity and bringing good fortune to young people in the year of the
snake and beyond. There is no more valuable gift than the gift of
knowledge,” concluded Yue.
Cash remains the gift of choice during Chinese New Year and represents
in Chinese culture close family ties, devotion and respect of elders and
good fortune for the future, according to Western Union consumer
insights.
Chinese New Year falls on February 10 this year and will see out the
dragon year and welcome the entrance of the snake.
The maximum value donated for all transaction and social network
activity between January 28, 2013 and February 10, 2013 will be $50,220,
which equates to funding 31 libraries of 1,000 books each. Each
qualifying transaction and social media activation will trigger a
donation of $0.25.
This campaign is part of Western Union’s Education for Better program, a
three-year commitment to advance global education goals.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment
services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western
Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union
provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient
ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to
purchase money orders. As of September 30, 2012, the Western Union, Vigo
and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined
network of approximately 510,000 agent locations in 200 countries and
territories. In 2011, The Western Union Company completed 226 million
consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $81 billion of
principal between consumers, and 425 million business payments. For more
information, visit www.westernunion.com.
WU-G
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130130005125/en/
Source: Western Union