In my neighborhood of Los Angeles, there is a tiny little shop called The Echo Park Time Travel Mart. Inside, the shop is filled with pleasant oddities and strange items, such as yesterday’s doughnuts, a full body suit of chainmail, dinosaur eggs and a full fragrance line that tease your senses with the likes of "Caveman" or "Gold Rush". On my walks from my bungalow to the park with my dog or meeting friends for brunch, we’d stop in often and laugh at what a curious place it was.
What I didn’t know was the silly store was actually a front for something much bigger.
Back behind the freezers of fore mentioned dinosaur eggs, there is a dark hall covered with little starry lights and it leads to a room full of kids. Kids and the volunteers of the nationally acclaimed organization 826.
826 is a non-profit organization here that focuses on helping students, elementary through high school, with creative and scholastic writing skills. With two locations in the Los Angeles area, 826LA offers in-school and after-school tutoring programs as well as workshops, publishing and field trips.
August 14th 826LA is hosting A Spelling Bee For Cheaters, a fundraiser for 826LA’s programs.
I think this fundraiser is such an awesome idea and really exemplifies what 826 stands for- having fun with English! Basically how it works is you form a team, fundraise and the more money you raise the more cheats you get! The cheats include "Switch-A-Roos" where you can trade places with a team member or even just flat out getting to make up your own word! The spelling bee this year will also be quite star studded, with the likes of Spike Jonze, Judd Apatow, John Krasinski, Catherine Keener and more participating! If you’re in the Los Angeles area and would like to start a team, you can here.
My friend Emily volunteers here and has started a team called, Ivan & The Bee Sharps. Here’s Ivan, one of 826LA’s own, interviewing one of the Time Travel Mart’s devoted shopkeepers:
Interviews with Ivan, Episode One from Darrell Gabonia on Vimeo.
Check out more about 826LA & the Spelling Bee For Cheaters here and donate to Ivan’s team (& the rest of 826LA) here!
awesome!!!! I love what the 826 org does for education, and this definitely makes me want to check the store out.
this is a great program… thanks for posting it. next time im in the echo park area i'll stop by to check it out.
What a awesome 6 hour, thankyou to Dave and all the crew at Roudtuit Caravan park for all the work that went to running this event, well worth marking in the dairy for next yearZayıflama Lida Fx15 ve Biber Hapı zlfvbh burmeh yaza lida fx15 biber hapı ile formda girin burmeh yaza lida fx15 biber hapı ile formda girin Trakya Üniversitesi tabiii en önemliside bize baya bi para getirecek. his family and particularly the children he had artificially created will be happier and far better off without him, not to mention wealthier. Remember and play his music if you want..it was pretty good but don't for get what an absolute failure as man he was. He dies a whiny drug addicted loser.. Save your sorrow for someone worthy