The year was 2007 and 826DC volunteer Steve Souryal was living the dream: A room in a house in Newport Beach, California, a gig as a guitarist in a rock band, and a day job as an accountant with a skateboard shoe company. The only problem? “Basically,” Steve explains, “I hated accounting.”
So when the European office recruited him, and he held in his grasp the even greater dream of becoming an accountant for a skateboard shoe company in Amsterdam, he did the logical thing.
He quit.
The decision launched Steve, then only 28, on a personal quest not unlike those portrayed in mid-life crisis movies. He listened as his neighbor—a nomad who founded the Speedo swimsuit company later in life—reassured him that everything would be fine. He took a motorcycle up the coast highway, Che Guevara-style. He almost landed a sweet job with a San Francisco design firm.
But the best thing he did was wander into the pirate supply store at 826 Valencia, the flagship 826 writing center, and sign up to volunteer.
“I would stop by 826 to tutor kids after school,” Steve says, “and it was the best part of my life. It made me feel like a champ. I realized how important teaching and helping others is to me.”
Now that he’s in D.C., Steve co-leads 826DC volunteer orientations and hosts “the lowercase,” a monthly reading series for 826DC volunteers at Big Bear Cafe. He works at a local non-profit advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East.
“After doing so much that doesn’t matter,” Steve says, “it’s rewarding to be making my mark. I feel useful. I feel like I’m part of something.”