Fifteen years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, people affected by the tragedy are remembering the event by giving back to their communities and donating their time and energy to charitable causes.
During the month of September, hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the U.S. painted and refurbished homes, ran food drives, spruced up schools, reclaimed neighborhoods, and engaged in a variety of other projects to show their support for police officers, firemen, paramedics and other first responders as well as veterans, soldiers, and military families.
The futures industry was hard hit by the 9/11 tragedy, and some members of the industry have been actively involved in these efforts. One example is the annual Bike Build event sponsored by the 9/11 Tribute Center in New York.
Click here for more information about the 9/11 Tribute Center
Each year 500 bicycles are assembled for children and families of active military service members. Each bike is matched to a name and age of a child of a military service member between the ages of 5 and 14. Working in teams of five, volunteers attach wheels, pedals, handle bars, seats and brakes. They also decorate each bike with ribbons and write a personal note to the child who will be receiving it.
Representatives from the Commodity Futures Brokers and Traders Association and RBC Wealth Management formed a team of volunteers to participate in this year's Bike Build, which took place on Sept. 21 at the Lexington Avenue Armory in Manhattan. The team included Madeline Boyd, co-chairman of CBFTA, Mitchell Steinhause, a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, and his wife Barbara Capsuto; Christopher Vollmer, a senior vice president at RBC Wealth Management; Kevin Toolan, vice president at RBC Wealth Management, and Lisa Morgan McNaney, a long time Nymex floor manager.
"The CFBTA/RBC team was happy to participate in the 9/11 Tribute Center's annual day of service building bicycles for the children of military families living at a regional army base," said Boyd. "We worked hard to continue our past record of building the most bikes and made sure that we helped reach their goal of completing every bicycle."
Former Nymex Chairman Mitchell Steinhause has been a regular participant in this event. "Barbara and I are honored to participate in building bikes for children of military families in tribute to the 9/11 annual bike building event. It's our small contribution to the people who protect our country," said Steinhause.
Funding for this year's CFBTA/RBC bike building team was provided by the Gero Family Charitable Foundation, an organization established by veteran futures broker George Gero of RBC Wealth Management and his wife Gale.
The September 11th Families Association, a not-for-profit corporation, established the 9/11 Tribute Center. It offers visitors to the World Trade Center a place where they can connect with people from the 9/11 community such as family members of victims, survivors, first responders and people who live and work in Lower Manhattan.
