A UNIVERSITY TALK THAT CREATED A VILLAGE IN AFRICA
Seth Merrin of Liquidnet and his wife read about the horrors of the Rwandan civil war. Some 15 percent of the nation’s 8 million people were orphans. Kids were trapped in inescapable poverty.
But a 2005 lecture at Merrin’s alma mater, Tufts University, brought home the human damage in Rwanda.
"That had a huge impact on us," Merrin says. He and his wife, Anne Heyman, decided to act."We took a look at what Israel did for the orphans of the Holocaust. What they did was create youth villages," Merrin says.
Now Merrin and wife do the same for the victims of the Rwandan civil war, whom they believed were being ignored. Liquidnet’s project, Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village, takes a holistic approach for these war victims, who come to the village with all their possessions in a paper bag.
The goal is to repair lives, Merrin proudly explains. "It gets them to the point where they will feel good and then they can give back," he says. "The village provides housing, food and education. Six months later, they’ve learned math, physics and are doing PowerPoint presentations." He encourages Liquidnet employees to volunteer.
Today the school has 375 students. Merrin plans for 500, and Liquidnet has become a revered institution in Rwanda. He notes that there’s a ripple effect when kids recover from the scourge of war. "Think of the impact we can make on Rwanda," he says.
LOOKING FOR LITTLE BUCKEYE GUYS WHO NEED HELP
Everyone knows the big charities, such as the United Way and American Red Cross, have little difficulty raising money, says Longbow Research’s Geoff Gioia, head of the Ohio Security Traders Association affiliate. So his group hoped to do something different.
"We wanted to help those charities that are little known, charities where even small contributions could make a big difference," Gioia told Traders Magazine.
So Gioia, along with the rest of the board of the Ohio STA, has been trying to raise more money while looking to find four or five charities a year to whom as little as a $5,000 contribution would be important.
Gioia says a $5,000 contribution wouldn’t make much of an impact for the United Way or the Salvation Army. But such contributions to lesser-known Ohio charities can "be the difference between life and death for these organizations."
Among the recipients of Ohio STA’s successful holiday dinner and casino events are: the Aadel Askari No Pain No Gain Foundation, which helps children with cancer, and Interfaith Hospital Network, which works with homeless families.
"These are charities," Gioia says, "that really need our help. They are charities where one contribution often makes a big difference."
A CAREER CHANGE AND A DANCE HELP A BOSTON SCHOOL
Ray Killian of ITG fame didn’t begin in trading. Just out of Boston University, with a family to support in the late 1950s, he took a job as a science teacher and basketball coach at the Cotting School. It is a renowned Boston school that helps disabled children who are not receiving an adequate public school education.
"He had tremendous compassion and loved working here," says Elizabeth Peters, director of advancement for the school.
After six years at Cotting, Killian joined Goldman Sachs and later ITG-but always remembered Cotting.
"He, along with his friend Richie McDonald of Putnam Funds, who had a son who went here, thought about how they could help Cotting. So they ran a sock hop that raised $100 for us," Peters says. "They both loved to dance. They decided to do it again."
Over the more than three decades since, the Boston STA has raised some $4 million for the Cotting School.
Where does the money go?
It goes to help young people, ages 3 to 22, who are often unable to walk or live independently, overcome numerous barriers. Peters proudly describes a young man who was barely able to walk who today "can now walk all over the place."
