A little over a year ago I was given the chance to be a part of something special. It all started when a close friend of mine asked me to come hang with some kids at a charter school near downtown Los Angeles. One hangout led to a year of hangouts with after school basketball games and creative workshops sprinkled in between.

During this time I found out that these schools were the last opportunity given to these kids for formal education - tools that would help them get a jump on life, tools that we've been fortunate to get. I used to think mentorship was a short term thing and questioned its impact and effectiveness. I have to say that my view has changed since witnessing first hand the change in attitude, demeanor, hope, goals, and attendance of these high school kids.

It's such a reminder to me that we all are capable of creating so much good and positive impact, but harnessing that is heavily shaped by our environment. These kids are not in a good environment.

I was also surprised to see how a little bit of sacrifice done repeatedly can change lives. I only sacrificed 2 hours of my time every week to hang with these kids and it was made possible because we had a tribe of volunteers that would go in on other days of the week. One concept we've been honing in on is - alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much. Together, we sacrificed marginally but were able to help lift up an entire school.

We're now gearing up to expand the program to other schools so more kids can have a good person in their life. Please check out Good City Mentors and help us spread the good!