National Youth Literacy Day

826 National is a venerable organization founded by Dave Eggers that promotes a love of writing and storytelling among urban youth. They hold evening writing workshops, host school field trips, have daily after-school tutoring, and send tutors into schools. I volunteered for my local 826 for three years, and it is an amazing place that helps hundreds of kids every year--all for FREE. They are funded by private donations and their creative storefronts--a pirate store in San Francisco, a spy store in Chicago, a superhero store in Brooklyn. So they have decided to declare 8/26 "National Literacy Day" and to invite text donations of $8.26. You can text the word "WRITE" to 20222 and a donation of $8.26 will be added to your mobile phone bill.

Through working with them I have met so many kids who struggle with literacy, and they are doing incredible work to combat underdeveloped literacy. If anyone out there is reading, please consider supporting them. You can learn more about all the local organizations and Literacy Day through the national site.