I first started working with Junior Achievement in 2012 when I participated as a volunteer instructor during JA Day. Here, I visited local Kindergarten classrooms and taught simple financial literacy program materials to local students. This program taught kids very basic foundational skills, such as why money exists, how we make money, and the importance of saving money versus spending money.

This lesson hit particularly hard at this school, which was located right outside the local MetLife office. During the two hours we volunteered in this classroom, we saw five kids sharing one small box of broken crayons. Another child's shoes were falling apart. Another carried his school items to school in a grocery bag because his parents could not afford a backpack. I went back to the office and started a project plan to help.

From that day on, MetLife sponsored this school's Giving Closet, where we regularly stocked the closet with school supplies, upcycled clothes, backpacks, and, in our fifth year, we even expanded to include canned food items. Twice a year, MetLife's Tampa office stocked this closet full of donations.

This all started with JA's free after-school program, which connects professionals to young people across the country. I thought I was just donating two hours of my time, but, in reality, this turned into a long-term friendship with that school. Though I have since moved on to the NYC area, the partnership continues back in Tampa.