Technicians On a Mission: Lab Owners Create Non-Profit to Give Back

Conrad Rensburg and his business partner, Drew Van Aarde, spent years building Absolute Dental Lab, the Durham, NC lab they co-own, but it only took one phone call in 2007 to throw all that hard work into harsh perspective: Rensburg was diagnosed with Stage III colorectal cancer.

After a long battle with the disease, Rensburg realized he had to stop living only for himself and start doing things for others. "We might not have another day to do good for somebody else. I want to leave a legacy of giving," he says. So, in 2012, Rensburg and Van Aarde founded the Absolute Care Foundation, a non-profit organization created to give back to the local community. The foundation is run entirely by the employees at Absolute Dental Lab.

In August, the foundation took on its first major project: a full-home renovation for Gwen Griffis, a local woman who had recently lost her mother, husband and 17-year-old son to cancer; she was struggling to pay medical...