You can read the whole story here, but basically, Dave Eggers (the writer) wanted to start a non-profit for tutoring and creative writing in San Francisco. He chose a location across the street from McSweeny's, where he worked. The location was zone for retail. It couldn't be a tutoring center. So Eggers decided to sell pirate-related merchandise in the front and, behind a curtain, provide a space for tutoring local kids.
While I was at the Pirate Store, I purchased a small telescope and a collection of written work edited by Judd Apatow. At the back of the book, I noticed the list of the seven chapters. The seven chapters each have 826 in their names, a retail store selling ridiculous things and books related to 826 or written by students in the chapter, and a tutoring center in the back. Each of the chapters have a different, strange theme. Something that would make you think, "Why would this neighborhood need a (pirate) store?" I saw that both Ann Arbor and Chicago had chapters. Chicago is a big city, so it's not that weird that I hadn't stumbled upon a non-profit in a city full of a wide array of organizations. Ann Arbor, however...
I thought and thought and thought about what store in Ann Arbor had bugged me for years and years about its mere existence. I finally had to look it up, and, indeed, it is a store that had bugged me for years and years and I had actually taken pictures of questioning its existence: The Liberty Street Robot Supply and Repair store.
Pre-826-Knowledge Megan: "Does Ann Arbor really have enough of a demand for robots to necessitate a robot supply and repair store?"
Post-826-Knowledge Megan: "No. It does not"
Soon after, I started volunteering with 826Chi, which at the time was the Boring Store (Definitely Not a Secret Spy Store): for all of your mundane needs. Now it's just the Spy Store. I loved it there. The volunteers and staff were a diverse group of hilarious, creative, supportive people who just wanted to spread silliness, creativity, and a love of writing in Chicago. I enjoyed each and every "shift" I worked as a tutor, workshop volunteer, golf fundraising volunteer, all of it.
While in LA last summer for FYF Fest, I stopped at one of the 826LA locations: the Echo Park Time Travel Mart. It was silly and creative and full of nonsense.
I'm so thrilled my new job took me to another city with an 826 location. Last week I went to an info session and cannot wait to start volunteering with 826 Boston: The Bigfoot Research Institute, a center dedicated to cryptozoology.
