The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund committed $4 million to Puerto Rico, giving $1000 in MasterCard cash cards directly to approximately 4000 families, after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island. More than 170 volunteers from Cantor Fitzgerald and its affiliate companies BGC Partners and Newmark, along with New York community volunteers and clients from Scotiabank and Banco Santander, distributed the cards on January 13th at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan. Cantor Fitzgerald Chairman & CEO Howard Lutnick will be present at the event alongside the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz Soto.
On September 11, 2001, 658 Cantor Fitzgerald friends and colleagues and 61 Eurobrokers employees were lost in the World Trade Center terrorist attack. The families left behind were struggling not only with the death of their loved ones but with insurance legalities that prevented them from receiving the financial support they desperately needed.
On September 14, 2001, the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund was formed with an initial donation of $1 million from Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners Chairman and CEO, Howard Lutnick. Mr. Lutnick and the firms’ partners underwrote 100 percent of the expenses of the Relief Fund so that every penny of its income was paid out to those in need. In addition to the families of Cantor’s employees who were lost on 9/11, the Relief Fund also assisted family members of World Trade Center victims from 14 other companies. The Relief Fund raised and distributed over $180 million to over 800 families and 932 children of the victims of this tragedy.
Since 9/11, the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund expanded its scope to not only include victims of terrorism, but to also assist victims of natural disasters and emergencies, including victims of Superstorm Sandy, the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, the tsunami of 2001, the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Harvey in Houston, TX. The Relief Fund also works to assist wounded members of the U.S. military. Since its inception, the Relief Fund has distributed over $332 million.
