When Gerry Mastrianni was getting the bone marrow transplant that saved his life, he vowed to help the children he saw going through the same ordeal.
"If there were ever two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence, they are pediatrics and oncology," said Mr. Mastrianni, director of trading at Empire Financial Group Inc., Longwood, Fla. After recovering from his second bout of cancer, he joined the board of Cancer Institute Foundation at Florida Hospital, Orlando, the hospital that treated him.
Late last year, he had a brainstorm: why not donate all of the profits from one day's worth of equity trades to the hospital's pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplant units?
"I think we gave $21,000 to the hospital," he said, and he hopes to donate "north of six figures" from this year's "Trading for a Cure" day, scheduled for Dec. 9. (Mr. Mastrianni received his bone marrow transplant on Dec. 8, 1999.)
"It doesn't cost other firms a dime," said Mr. Mastrianni, a career trader. "They need to get their orders executed somewhere, and that day they can send a majority of their shares here, and we'll turn that to the fight against cancer."
For more information, contact Mr. Mastrianni at 800-579-8100 or [email protected]
