August 2008 – Ken Mazur

August 1, 2008 | 826 Blog Post

Ken Mazur

Ken Mazur!

We couldn’t resist posting this truly “awww”-inspiring photo of “The Baby Who Would Be King” with his big sister, our Volunteer of the Month for August, Ken Mazur.

To simply call Ken an intern would be insufficient. To simply call him a tutor would be insufficient. To simply call him a volunteer would be … you probably get the point by now. To simply call him anything would be insufficient.

Ken came to us some time ago as a tutor. To say that he is pretty much the sweetest, most patient tutor we’ve ever had would not be insufficient, or an understatement. The rule of thumb throughout Ken’s tenure as a tutor consisted of: student works with Ken for the first time, student requests Ken on subsequent visits, student inquires as to Ken’s whereabouts on days Ken is not there. In fact, we had every intention of making Ken the volunteer of the month waaay back in January, except: gasp! he wrote us around the holidays to say that he’d gotten into school and couldn’t tutor anymore.

The following weeks were filled with several tearful emails from us, numerous pleas to forget about school, and two incidents in which Amy found Erin crying, loudly, in the basement. What is referred to now as our Second Dark Age ensued. Until …

Ken emailed us this spring and asked if we would let him intern for us this summer! In an amazing test of the space-time continuum, we actually managed to accept him as an intern before he sent that email.

His internship has consisted of tasks both menial and important, and Ken approaches all assignments with the same amount of focus and thoroughness. OCD-Amy often sends him emails reminding him of something, or telling him some aspect of a task that she forgot to mention before, and (again testing the space-time continuum) Ken’s always got it covered. He completes hours of mind-numbing data entry and can still speak in complete sentences at the end of it. He saw the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair through it’s biggest, craziest, most lucrative day ever, and lived to tell the tale. We once asked him to call around to other volunteer-driven non-profits and find out what their volunteer policies are. He compiled his results, and then sent us an overview as a series of haiku, metered stanzas, and a limerick. He is naturally talented in so many areas, in fact, that we have yet to find his weak spot. We are starting to suspect he doesn’t have one.

Furthermore, when we mentioned, almost on a whim, that we wanted to get the hilarious Michael Cera into one of our Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair t-shirts (you may have heard he’s filming a movie two blocks from us), he made it his personal mission. We won’t say he stalked Michael Cera, exactly, but we will say he took an interest in his comings and goings (in all fairness, Ken also volunteers for the Obama campaign, stationed next to the set). We are not surprised at all to report that Michael Cera’s wardrobe now contains one of our shirts, and that he apparently “loves” it, and “will totally wear it.”

Ken, you are the greatest, and we love you, a whole lot. Thanks for everything you have done, and continue to do for us!


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