New York Life, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States, recently showed how an

event cancellation could be turned into an opportunity to do good.

New York Life’s 2017 Executive Council Meeting was scheduled to be held at the Austin Convention

Center at the end of August. With the approach of hurricane Harvey, the corporation opted to cancel

the event for the sake of safety.

Typically, late cancellations mean that money contractually obligated for meeting space, food and

beverage, and hotel rooms is lost, and often space goes unused.

Rather than letting the space go to waste, New York Life saw an opportunity to help. The company

donated 100 guest rooms at the Hilton Downtown Austin, plus the food, beverage, and meeting space at

the Austin Convention Center that had been booked for its meeting, to Red Cross volunteers and

evacuees from the greater Houston area where the hurricane had hit the hardest.

"I met a number of Red Cross staff and volunteers arriving at the Austin Hilton to help with the relief

efforts in Houston. Chatting with these mental health professionals and social service workers that

would benefit from the contributions of the hotel rooms and food that we donated made our support

even more meaningful,” said Ellen Kantro, vice president of multimedia and events, New York Life.

She added, “It was comforting to see firsthand that they were able to make good use of what we were

able to donate and brought great satisfaction to all of us - both on-site in Austin and company-wide."

Visit Austin, the official destination marketing and sales organization for the City of Austin, didn't want

New York Life’s efforts to go unnoticed. They issued a press release thanking the company for its

charitable donation.

“We are grateful to companies like New York Life for their compassion and generosity towards those in

Houston and the Texas coast who have lost everything,” said Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Visit

Austin.

He added, “Austin remains committed to helping our friends and neighbors in Texas who are dealing

with the aftermath of this storm and we know – in true Texas spirit – we will continue to rebuild and

overcome.”

In addition to donating their meeting space, sleeping rooms, and food and beverage, New York Life

made a corporate donation of $500,000, allocating $150,000 to the American Red Cross, $100,000

to Save the Children and $100,000 to Feeding Texas to aid immediate relief efforts in southeastern

Texas, with a company match of up to $150,000 for contributions from its employees and agents to help

those directly impacted by the hurricane.

The company is continuing to work with local staff, federal officials and its charity partners in the area to

determine how it can best support long-term relief efforts going forward.