Chapter 13 - First Step Families
I wanted to reimburse First Step personally.
Immediately.
Leah stopped me.
“Why?”
“Because my sister misused it.”
“Company acquired liabilities.”
“I can fix.”
“Through process.”
Again.
The audit identified no child denied benefits because of the accounting misclassification.
Important.
First Step still delivered approved shoes and school items.
The problem was donor reporting and internal cost allocation.
We corrected.
Alder Row restored $38,500 to the restricted program reserve as part of acquisition cleanup.
My investment firm funded forty percent proportionally with co-investors according to ownership.
I did not write a hero check alone.
Then we met nonprofit partner.
They asked whether program would continue.
Yes.
But independently administered.
Bell & Finch employees would no longer decide eligibility.
Partner nonprofit would.
Store would provide goods at transparent wholesale rate.
No founder discretion.
No Sloan family participation.
Especially Winnie.
She was not a program beneficiary.
Could I donate?
Yes, through normal channel.
I did.
Modestly.
No naming.
No photo op.
Anna had wanted shoes to be practical.
We made program boring.
She would have approved.
Probably.
I stopped pretending I knew exactly what dead people would think.
Better:
The structure matched values she had expressed while alive.
May you like
That was enough.
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