You can measure a financial institution’s success in many ways, such as reputation in the community, recognition among its peers, regulatory audits, membership growth and financial assets. The Chairman and I are pleased to report that Grow met and exceeded all milestones in these areas for 2019. As such, we are financially strong and well capitalized to face the turbulent economic environment introduced in 2020.

But beyond our performance as a financial institution, I primarily measure success by asking one question: Did we successfully fulfill our mission to serve people, not profit?

Nearing the end of my first year as CEO, I’d be remiss not to mention the challenges our communities, our members and our team members have faced due to the ongoing pandemic. Amid these adverse and changing circumstances, I’m proud of how our organization has focused on member service with dedication and passion.

As an essential service, we kept our stores open throughout the pandemic while safeguarding the health and safety of our team members. With our members’ financial well-being in focus, we worked quickly to make assistance available, including emergency loans, loan deferments and modifications, and mortgage forbearance. Through the SBA Paycheck Protection Program, we helped more than 1,200 small businesses with loans totaling $21 million with an average loan size of under $20,000. In the wake of COVID-19’s negative impact to our local economy, we created a campaign called Grow On Us, designed to offer some much-needed joy to the people in our community. Through Grow On Us, we supported 27 local businesses and gave away more than 13,000 meals, beverages and gifts.

At the same time, we’ve heard the voices calling out for our nation to address racial injustice and witnessed the need for change. Our organization began taking a deeper look at the way we do things, seeking to identify any areas we could do better to make a positive impact toward racial equity. Through this effort, we’ve made several improvements internally, including enhancing unconscious bias training for the whole team, empowering our Diversity Committee toward greater visibility and impact in the organization, and hosting weekly Town Hall dialogues between myself, other members of the Senior Team and all Grow team members. Presently, we’re evaluating new ways to extend the reach of our banking services to become even more financially inclusive and continuing to discuss actionable ways we can make a difference.

In reflecting on the remarkably difficult year that 2020 has been, I am confident we’ve stayed true to our mission and kept members at the heart of everything we do. To me, this is true success. Throughout the remainder of 2020 and into next year, we look forward to our continued relationship and the opportunity to serve you.

Thomas R. Feindt
CEO

Robert LaPlant
Chairman

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