Cantor Fitzgerald lends a hand to Oklahoma tornado victims

Cantor Fitzgerald knows what it’s like to suffer a tragic loss.

The capital markets investment bank lost 658 of its 960 New York employees in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

So the remaining employees created the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, first to assist family members of Cantor staffers who perished on that day, and later to provide aid to victims of terrorism, natural disasters, and emergencies.

For its effort to provide help to the survivors of a killer tornado in Oklahoma, Cantor Fitzgerald claims top honors in the Best Crisis/Disaster Assistance category of PR Daily’s 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility Awards.

Following a May 2013 tornado, the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, in conjunction with Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners, provided a $1,000 prepaid debit card to each family with a child in the Moore Public School district at the time of the catastrophe and whose home was damaged or destroyed.

In June, a team of Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund volunteers traveled to Moore, Okla., to review the devastation in the region and meet local officials. In September, 50 New York-based volunteers flew to Moore courtesy of JetBlue and distributed the cards.

According to Reuters, one Moore resident said her children attended a school struck by the tornado.

“They didn’t get to have birthday parties this year, so it would be nice to be able to buy them new clothes and things,” the woman said. “Part of it will go to make repairs on the house. We have duct tape holding the house together.”

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