Why Western Union’s Chain of Betters Initiative Is Awesome

Every year growing up my mom made sure we had a family to do sub-for-santa for. Even when we were really young she would give us the information and we would get to go to the store and pick out something that the family needed. As fun as Christmas shopping for myself was, this was always my favorite part of our Christmas shopping experience! It was fun to imagine what the kids’ reactions would be to the loot that I picked out for them!

Usually, we didn’t get to see the reaction of the families when they received our stuff, but I remember one year when I was about 13, we actually drove with my parents to deliver the gifts. It was in a really run-down trailer park and a young mom came out to meet us. She hardly spoke any english. When my dad started unloading the gifts she immediately broke down in tears. She kept saying “thank you” over and over. 

When she had all the gifts she told us to wait and quickly ran back inside. When she came back out she handed my dad a card. As we drove home my dad handed it around. Inside the card was a photo of her two children and it said something along the lines of “thank you for making their Christmas special. God bless you.”

Now that I am a mom, I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to not be able to afford even a few Christmas presents for your children. I will never forget that card and what it felt like to really feel like I did something special for those kids. The spirit of giving that comes with Christmas is why I love it so much! I think anything you can do to help others in need is such a good thing!

Western Union is actually trying to kick-start a chain of good deeds around the world by sponsoring what they are calling the “Chain of Betters” initiative, and IT IS AWESOME!! You can see in the video above what they have already done. They gave money to various individuals around the world and those people used the money to do something better for their community. The most touching story to me is the man who used his money to buy a boat for the school children, because they had to swim through a river to get to school every day.  

Western Union believes that when money moves, better things happen. A business expands. A family connects. A child goes to college. Emergency aid arrives the moment it’s needed. An economy prospers, an opportunity opens, a community heals. Moving money for better means moving money for a better world –creating value for individuals, businesses and for society. I completely agree and think that this is such a wonderful thing for a company to sponsor.

This is what lies at the heart of the new Chain of Betters project. It’s an idea that empowers people with the opportunity to change the lives of others. As the money moves around the world, creating a chain of good deeds, together we can start to change lives in ways we wouldn’t have imagined was possible.

Money is often associated with greed, but this is a way for us to make sure money is associated with kindness. Visit the website for the Chain of Betters project for more information, and do what you can to keep money moving for better!