Sending money back home has always been a major part of the immigrant experience. This season, some who transferred money overseas got a little something back.
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Western Union Market Development Director Darrin Russell, right, presents customer Amin Nadi, of Dearborn, with an $1,800 travel voucher at Super Greenland Market on Dec. 18. PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN |
“At first I didn’t take it serious,” said Nadi after receiving the voucher during a small ceremony Dec. 18 at Western Union station inside Super Greenland Market, a popular Middle Eastern grocery store on Warren Avenue.
It took a few more calls, but Western Union executives convinced him that he was indeed a winner in the company’s “Fly Home” sweepstakes promotion that began during Ramadan, targeted primarily to customers who send money to the Muslim World. Nadi was the seventh of 14 winners. Other winners included Arab Americans in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida who sent money to Yemen, Jordan and Sudan.
Nadi, who runs a cell-phone shop in Dearborn, regularly sends money to family in Lebanon via Western Union. He was entered into the drawing automatically and completely surprised by the prize.
“It helps a lot,” Nadi said. “I’m thinking to get a flight to Lebanon. If not, maybe we’ll take the kids to Disneyland.”
Western Union Market Development Director Darrin Russell said presenting Nadi the voucher and possibly helping him make a trip back home — Nadi hasn’t visited Lebanon since coming to the U.S. 11 years ago — was personally fulfilling and fit right into the company’s goal of serving immigrant populations.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. “Our motto is really to appeal to the new migrants today and to give back.”
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