There once was a tutor Chris Cobb
whom all the kids thought was a slob:
always chewing on pens,
doing crosswords and then
telling kids they had done a great job.

Cobb got his BA as a Bruin
went back home but saw nothing was doin',
so he thought with his looks
he'd write many fine books
in LA where he had an old shoe-in.

He's at home at the Time Travel Store,
always waiting to tutor some more.
No word problem's too tough
nor equation enough
to make his brain tired and sore.

(Chris began tutoring at 826 Valencia in 2005. His book, Van Wyck and the Pirates of the Outland Empire, is available now.)

Jeremiah Dockray is an assistant editor in television and is atoning for this by tutoring at 826LA. He will continue to enjoy "tutoring his way into heaven" (as some put it) as long as life deems it possible, but all is not as it seems. "Charity" fails to describe what Jeremiah does with 826LA; he sees afternoon drop-in tutoring not as giving back to the city he loves but as reciprocating events where he's receiving and giving equally. The kids of 826LA provide him a constant humbling mechanism, against a backdrop where he might teeter on a knife's edge between crippling self-involvement and the expectations of society, family, and Charles Dickens. It's his belief, therefore, that the children with whom he does so-called "volunteer" work are really employing him, paying wages with the most precious currency of all…inspiration.

Margaret Howell was just having fun. She was hanging out at 826LA, helping out, and having a good ol' time. But now, she can't get out of her house, she can't drive a car or ride a bike, and since she can't get to the grocery store, she's really, really hungry.

You see, Margaret's head suddenly started to grow, and it now rivals a T-rex's in size and weight; she blames Danny. You see, if Danny hadn't picked her to be Volunteer of the Month, she wouldn't currently have a staggering case of Big Head-itis. When Margaret has her normal-sized head, she works as a freelance writer and producer in Los Angeles.

Brick Maier spends most of his time teaching kids how to write short stories and turn them into movies. He feels very strongly that never a moment is lost spent in the company of creativity. And this intentional act, which produces some thing, must be encouraged with young people. Space must be made for creativity to occur, where a console is swapped for a piece of paper and a many-buttoned trigger-laden controller for a pen. These moments, when young people pour themselves onto a page, are proof to the world that they exist. 826LA has created a space where kids exist and the simple act of putting a pen to paper occurs. For that Brick feels privileged to work with them. When he is not putting on his Tabletop Moviemaking workshops with 826LA, he is busy growing his fledgling company and learning first hand what it means to be a social entrepreneur in 2009. Yikes. He is currently preparing to launch an awesome kit designed to help young people write stories and make movies. Check it out: www.tabletopmedia.org