826CHI update & a martian jellyfish!
Thanks to a donation from Ticketmaster, we’ve raised $2,040 for 826CHI, Living Philanthropic’s Featured Charity for April. I truly admire the work that they do to make reading and writing fun for kids. If you would like to help 826CHI do more excellent work, consider joining the team and pledging your support: http://www.crowdrise.com/LP-826CHI
And now story time courtesy of the 2nd Grade Class at Wicker Elementary in Chicago!
The Story of Lary Snakefish, the Martian Jellyfish
Once upon a time lived a Martian jellyfish named Lary Snakefish. He had dragon wings and was orange with blue and yellow polka dots. He lived in a seaweed house in Jellyfish Ocean on Mars. Lary was no ordinary jellyfish. All the jellyfish on Mars had dragon wings, but Lary had the special ability to breathe fire.
Every morning, Lary would wake up feeling super grouchy because he hated waking up in the morning. He would go and drink some of his favorite jell-o coffee with a side of cranberry juice. Then he would put on his jellyfish hat and gracefully float to work.
Lary worked at the library. His favorite thing to do in the whole wide world was to read. He liked to read books about dragons, baking, dolphins, and Power Rangers. The only problem was that everyone in the library hated when Lary worked because he breathed fire, so he would sometimes burn the books.
One day, the head librarian, Mrs. Seahorse, who was surprisingly an elephant, came up to Lary and said, “Lary, you keep burning all of the books. I’m going to have to fire you.”
Lary replied, “I understand. I’m so sorry. Could I pay for the books?”
“Yes, but the books are really really expensive! You burned 100 books so you will need to pay a trillion dollars!” said Mrs. Seahorse.
Since Lary no longer had a job, because he got fired from being a librarian, he had no idea how he was going to earn a trillion Martian dollars.
“Oh no!” said Lary, “What am I going to do?”
Read more stories at 826CHI’s Writing Gallery: http://www.826chi.org/writing_gallery
I truly believe in the power of education and literacy as tools to shape our lives and future. There was a man I knew as a child, who never learned how to read. He was streetwise and a fighter, but if you handed him a note or book, he would fiddle with his glasses and struggle to make sense of the written words. It was a sad case of insufficient education, he never received a proper education. As a young child, I realized then how important education was. If I was going to excel and create a better life for myself, education was going to be the first step. I may not be the smartest person or the most appropriately punctuated writer, but I am blessed to be literate. There are a number of literacy and mentoring programs in the US, and while I can’t hit them all in my current journey, I will support as many as I can. Today’s give is for Open Books! 
$8,741
$56,159*
