I suppose I’ve always been an altruist of a certain kind, I might even be described as having (heaven forbid) a “bleeding heart” or a soft spot or some could even say I’m a sucker for a cause or even just a sap. Yes, it’s true. I want to rescue all the abandoned kittens, save all the children, help the poor, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and destroy all the suffering of the world. Of course, I realize that I do not have what it takes to single-handedly save the world or even to convince a significant number of people to help me do it, but on the occasions when I felt more practical, though no less altruistic, I considered what I could do to “act locally” while “thinking globally.” While my mother always taught me to do what I love to do, which is helping those who need it most, my father always told me to do what I do best, and for better or for worse, what I do best is give financial guidance. I am pretty good at making numbers and money matters seem, if not enjoyable, at least less threatening. In keeping with both of those ideas, I have often said throughout my career, “If I could give this stuff away for free, I would.”
Inspired, in part by my family, by such books as Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, and by my own experiences volunteering in a variety of shelters and working with a number of philanthropic causes, one day it simply occurred to me that I could indeed share my knowledge at no charge to the people who needed it most and could afford it the least. It was then that I began the journey of creating a financial education agency that would teach the skills for economic freedom to the people who needed it right in my own city.
On this, the first day of my adventure and foray into the nonprofit education world, I arrived at the teen homeless shelter and walked confidently into the large brick building through the frame of an enormous black wrought iron gate that had been fashioned by a local artist to resemble something out of a Tolkien novel. The lobby was lined with orange and yellow seats attached to walls that were covered in expansive colorful graffiti art murals extending up to the ceiling of the three-story foyer.
