My Head is Spinning

So as many of you are aware, my company was acquired (merged, bought, sold, you pick the word), by a much larger company (C&F) last week.  If you missed the announcement you can check it out here:  http://www.redwoodsgroup.com/

Now that the news is out and I have the freedom to talk more about it and can now share the experience with you.

Many of you have probably been through a similar experience.  Companies are bought, sold and merged every day.  Sometimes they make the local and even national news.  But most of those announcements are newsworthy because they mean someone is making a lot of money and others are out of jobs.

In my situation this week, yes there was a transaction that included money, but no one lost their job, no one was given a pay cut and no one's benefits change.  Yep.  I am for real.

It is business as usual at TRG.  I still get to go to work everyday.  Sit at the same desk.  Report to the same manager.  All while continuing to protect children from drowning, being sexually abused or getting injured because they were riding in a 12-15 passenger van.  All of these are core to TRG's business model.   Our mission is to protect.  Our mission is to provide an insurance product that provides coverage that is appropriate and unique to nonprofits that serve their communities.

TRG wants to make the country (we would love to be world wide and we may now have that opportunity) a much safer place for children (and adults too).  And our new owner wants to help us do that.  They want us to help us grow our business.  They want us to provide even better coverage.  They want us to find other nonprofits to partner with.  And they want to help us do that in a more efficient and effective way.  They want us to Scale our Movement.

As an actual insurance carrier now, we get to take out what we call the frictional costs.  We will have more authority, less oversight  We will have the ability to rate and price that makes sense for our customers.   We will have access to more capital.  We will have access to better resources.  We will have new systems.  Yep, I get to learn a whole new claims system and have been in trainings this week and next.  Good thing Lent is over, I am going to need coffee.  We get to keep doing what we do best.

As many of you know, TRG is a certified B Corp.  There are some B Corps out there that you may recognize -- Burt's Bees, Ben & Jerry's, Seventh Generation, Patagonia, Method..... just to name a few.   If you don't know what that means, in simple terms, it means that we are a company that focuses on more then the bottom line.  We are for good or for benefit.  Not necessarily for profit.  We give back more then we take in.  We volunteer.  We open up our offices for others to use.  We give grants.  We love.  We Serve.  We Transform.  We call it The Redwoods Way.

And as part of this transaction, we get to keep our B Corp status.  And as if it couldn't get any better, our new owner wants the rest of their brands and companies to look at doing the same thing.

Who knew that a small company based in Morrisville, NC that started with 6 employees in a warehouse (for those of who that remember, I was one of those first 6) could be so instrumental in changing the communities in which we all live.  

This transaction has restored in me my faith in the business world.  Good things can still be done.   We can make money.  But we can also focus on more.  We can make a difference.

We can love, serve and transform.

Good Friday, Yes it is Good Indeed

Today is Good Friday.   A day for Christians to not only mourn but to celebrate.  Yes, I know that it seems odd to want to celebrate a death.   But for Christians, death, in particular Christ's death, means so much more.

It is on this day some 2000 years ago that Christ died for us.   For me.  For You.  All because He loved us.  He didn't have to.  I am sure that God could have stopped it.  There was probably someone that could have been bribed.  A jail break could have occurred.   He could have just run away.  But none of those things happened.

Christ took the punishment.  He took the beatings.  He took the humiliation.  He carried the cross.  He paid the price for our sins.   He took our place.

Christ didn't deserve to die.  He hadn't done anything wrong.  He was perfect.  He was a servant.  He was a healer.  He was a provider.   He was a teacher.   But He was also our Savior.  He was the Savior that God had sent.   A baby that would grow up to be a man.  A man that would became a King.  And a Savior that we all desperately need.

We are broken. We are in pain.  We are sick.  We are sinners.    

I don't get very spiritual or write "Christianize" (yeah, I know I made up that word) very much but today I feel inspired.  This past Tuesday, eight women sat around my kitchen table.  These women are part of the community group aka small group aka bible study that meets at my house each week.  This week we abandoned the lesson that had been prepared by the church staff and did something different.

We prayed.  We ate.  We laughed.  We enjoyed wine.  We shared.  And most importantly we loved. Just like Christ's disciples did some 2000 years ago.  They gathered to eat... to celebrate the Passover.
We admitted that we are not perfect.   We are all in some sort of pain.  But one thing that we all have in common is that we know we need Christ.

Several of us will gather again tonight to worship and commune together.  We will watch one of our own sing.   But more importantly we will celebrate what Easter is all about.  Christ's death.

Easter is more then bunnies, baby chicks and chocolate..... well maybe it's okay if I enjoy my Reese's peanut butter eggs a little more then I should, but you get the point.    Easter is a time to celebrate.  To rejoice.

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday (well Saturday for some of us), are all days to be celebrated.  Days to rejoice.   Days to be so thankful for.

Christ died.  Christ is Risen.  And all because He Loved.