Meanwhile, in midtown Manhattan, The Hartford’s negotiations for permanent offices—a process that normally takes 12 to 15 months—were complete.  The feverish pace was in some ways therapeutic. It helped take people’s minds off the tragedy and the monumental loss of life, including the lives of many good friends and business colleagues at Aon, Marsh & McLennan, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley—major partners of The Hartford with offices in the Twin Towers. Like many Americans watching the heroism of firefighters, police and emergency crews, thousands of our employees asked, “How can we help?” Fortunately, they found ways. Lots of them. Employees crowded into bloodmobiles and dropped food and supplies into overflowing bins. With the company’s match, employees also donated more than $700,000 to relief efforts, and The Hartford provided a special tele- phone hotline for employees who needed counseling. “Focused resolve” is how New York-based Regional Vice President Brandon Hickey characterizes The Hartford’s response. “It solidified in my mind how strong the culture is at this company,” he says. “The emotional stress of Sept. 11 will be with us for a long time. But as a tribute to the people who were there, we came back as quickly as we did because we knew we had a job to do, and we were committed to succeed.” By early November—less than 60 days after the attack—The Hartford’s New York employees were in their new permanent offices at 2 Park Ave.  No less impressive—and certainly no less swift— was The Hartford’s claims service during Sept. 11’s aftermath. “Catastrophe Team”—CAT—adjusters were on the ground within days, fulfilling obligations to poli- cyholders who suffered losses. As an example, The Hartford advanced $1 million within 72 hours of the dis- aster to help the Thacher, Proffitt & Wood law firm establish temporary midtown Manhattan offices. All the firm’s employees had evacuated the World Trade Center’s south tower before everything in their offices was destroyed. Within a week, Thacher, Proffitt & Wood was back in business. The Hartford assigned extra resources to expedite service requests, and customers received premium payment extensions as needed. One adjuster wrote a $250,000 check on the spot to help a lower Manhattan software-development company begin its recovery. CAT team members and call center customer service representatives received special training to help them cope with traumatized customers, and the company distributed disaster-recovery literature and forms to help customers get back to business. The Hartford’s Group Benefits Division (GBD) offered crisis-counseling services to policyholders in 10