Since the beginning of the year, Maya Levinson has truly enjoyed volunteering her time at the drop-in tutoring program offered by 826LA West on Thursdays. 826LA's kids never cease to surprise her with their curiosity, intelligence, knowledge, and sense of humor, and she considers it a true privilege to work with them. Maya grew up in Israel, came to Los Angeles to go to graduate school, and never left. She has a Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA, and despite it managed to raise two well-adjusted kids into adulthood. Maya has spent her career in marketing research, and also volunteers with adults who are learning English in Culver City.

Shannon McHenry is currently a senior in college. She's taking a year off and recently moved to Los Angeles due to the unmanageably cold snowy weather at Ohio Wesleyan University, just outside Columbus. She enjoys listening to Bob Dylan, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, jumping in the freezing cold ocean, and doing math problems with students at 826LA West. Her favorite books are The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Giving Tree, and her favorite movies include Tommy Boy, Shrek, and anything with Denzel Washington. Shannon is a Psychology and Neuroscience major who's also interested in anthropology, American literature, and drinking chocolate milk. She hopes in the future to work with at-risk youth and own a lot of dogs.

Michael Thompson stumbled into the Echo Park Time Travel Mart by mistake. Mike actually comes from the future, and he thought the nice people at the Time Travel Mart could help him. It turns out it's just a front. He ended up staying because one of the children at the writing center becomes the leader of the human army when the robots attack, and when Mike does get back to the charred future hellscape he called his present, he wants to brag about how he tutored the legend.

Alissa Walker is a writer, crafter, and eater of delicious foods. She has been thrilled to utilize all of these mentioned skills while serving the community at 826LA, from bestowing her near-encyclopedic knowledge upon Garfield High students as they worked on their Hero's Journey stories, to designing the prototype of the legendary Echo Park Holiday Parade hat, to consuming beef and pickle tacos with her fellow volunteers. When not enjoying the scenic 1.5-mile walk from her house to 826LA East (sometimes she rides her bike), Alissa is a freelance writer about design, architecture, travel, and food for many publications, including her own blog Gelatobaby.