ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a leader in global payments, recently announced its support of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as part of the company’s Ramadan 2012 Campaign. The Campaign aims to provide up to 240,000 meals, or up to US $60,000, to WFP’s school meals programs for school children around the world, and is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to social responsibility. 

To bring attention to the issue of child hunger and rally consumers around this global need, Western Union is calling upon consumers in the United States to participate in a simple online game called ‘Light the Lantern,’ which serves as the mechanism to provide donations to the World Food Programme. Consumers can access the free game at www.westernunionramadan.com through August 19, 2012.

“This is an ideal time to recognize the spirit of giving within each of us,” said Nancy Roman, WFP director of communications, public policy and private partnerships. “Western Union’s global presence will allow us to spread the message of hunger even further, providing a voice to the millions of people who struggle to find their next meal.”

For each of the game’s three levels that a consumer completes, Western Union will donate one school meal to the World Food Programme. As part of the Campaign, Western Union has committed to provide a minimum of 200,000 meals. When consumers complete each level of the game, Western Union will donate an additional meal plus a bonus meal totaling four meals for every completed game. With the help of Western Union consumers who play the Light the Lantern game, the company aims to provide up to 40,000 additional meals to help children succeed in school and in life.

Laston Charriez, senior vice president of marketing, North America, Western Union, said, “This unique opportunity ties in perfectly with the Western Union spirit of giving and sharing which is associated with the holy month of Ramadan. The Ramadan 2012 Campaign offers our consumers the opportunity to join us in reaching out to some of the world’s most vulnerable children who struggle with hunger daily.”

The Western Union Ramadan 2012 Campaign microsite also offers various other useful and interesting tools and features such as: Greetings Cards, visitors can send e-cards to their loved ones with personalized messages; Emsekiyat Calendar, suhoor / iftar calendar per country; and a Zakat Calculator, visitors can calculate the Zakat amount they need to pay depending on their assets, savings accounts, deposits, cash in hand, business inventories and liabilities.

Extending further support to the Campaign, the Dubai-based Western Union Middle East and Africa (MEA) Team has also donated US$15,000 to the World Food Program, which the team was awarded earlier this year when it won the Western Union CEO Award for Excellence for 2011. The team won the award for demonstrating the drive, dedication, focus and commitment to maintaining service for consumers during a time of upheaval and change in the region. In addition, the Western Union Foundation has matched this amount, taking the amount donated to the World Food Program beyond the Ramadan campaign to $30,000.

“Western Union has always sought to make a positive difference to the lives of people globally — whether helping consumers send money to their loved ones through its money transfer services, providing grants to NGOs and disaster relief through the Western Union Foundation, facilitating economic opportunity by providing education and skills training through its Family Scholarship Program, or through various volunteering opportunities. We are honored to extend our support in the spirit of Ramadan,” Charriez added. 

The Western Union® Ramadan Campaign will run through August 19, following which the final donation will be made to the World Food Program. 

For more information about Western Union, visit www.westernunion.com. For more information about the World Food Program, visit www.wfp.org.  g

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 June 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.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.