LIFESTYLE COLUMN: ABEL CHARROW 6N6 CHALLENGE

Able to Use His Pull in the Hollywood 'Community' to Help Good Causes

By: Josh Moorhead

August 9, 2011

Time. Who's got it anymore? Why, I remember a time when time was as abundant as all the time in the universe. Or something. But the point is, in that scatterbrained sentence, the stuff is just rare these days. Especially in LA, where everyone is stuck in traffic between their coffee and their auditions, their dreams and the unemployment line. In LA, and I suppose in adulthood, time is more and more a selfish thing, as there becomes less and less of it. In the city of angels where not everyone shares a 9:00-to-5:00, it becomes all that much easier to stay all the more isolated and inward looking. A meeting for coffee could take weeks to schedule; an article, like this one, could come in months late.

But the secret is I know someone that's figured it out. Oh, this will be an article about the entertainments and the buzzing stars of today, but it's also about something else that LA forgets about a lot of the time: more. The more that's there than the red carpet, the release party, the meet and greet. More.

This article is about Abel Charrow who, in short, I'd say is a good man, and in jest I would say is a bastard for doing it so much better than myself and perhaps a lot of the rest of us (although the guy's not a rapper -- at least not yet; he's not doing what he do to say he done it over the rest of us). Rather, Abel found a most interesting way to manage his time: to give it away pro bono. And trust me, it wasn't any easier for him than it would be for the rest of us.

Abel is a bunch of things, but when I met him, he was 1/537th my boss because I delivered mail to him at the offices of NBC's Community on the Paramount lot. I knew he must have been good people right away because 1) he was always participating in pranks around the office, 2) he welcomed me to their kitchen -- a regular endless supply of kettle chips, apples, and Nutter Butters -- a nirvana to a poor man in a mail uniform.

It also caught on to me that Abel could draw (if you're a Community fan, you've seen some of his sketches on air, including the adoring one of "White Abed"). Also, Abel could assist, as that's what he was and is doing for one of the producers of the show, and I realized Abel could run. Not because I ever chased him or saw him fleeing a crime scene, but because tags from various marathons started popping up around his office space. I knew a lot of runners in high school, so I figured maybe Abel was good people. If you don't know a runner, you should. They tend to be wacky, motivated, and very boney and dehydrated people. A delicate balance.

I had to inquire: Abel, why are you running so hard? And that's when I found out about the 6n6 Challenge. Starting in September of last year, Abel set out to run six marathons in six months. The very thought of running a single marathon in my entire life causes me to flirt with heart failure. But dude was set to do it.

LA may be a selfish place, but the truth is running can also be a selfish sport. Pushing yourself to your limit with nothing but the engine of your lungs and feet to keep pressing on is a thing that does require some inward looking -- running, besides shedding the pounds or the sweat, also tends to shed other worries or pressing issues and makes a number-one priority of "hey, me - keep breathing, would ya?" pressed against "hey, me - stop being such an asshole and sit down and eat a hot fudge sundae please." It's a pretty internal thing. To be a competitive runner, as Mr. Charrow was in high school and college, makes one even further in oneself. The discipline to rack time and focus and check oneself against oneself's previous bests before maybe wrecking oneself well, it might have helped contribute to Abel learning things like managing a calendar, but not necessarily in spreading that wealth of time.

So Abel was running again -- in the mornings before a full work day, while scribbling arts and such, working the Community phones -- whatever it took before or after the schedule most of us would let defeat us, while I would enjoyed naps, ESPN, or Subway 5-dollar footlongs. It fascinated me, and 6n6 was the answer. Abel was running for charity.

Now Abel didn't invent the wheel by running fundraising marathons, but he did something that all of us would be better off doing in whatever way we can: he made the wheel spin his way. Abel was running for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after watching a cousin suffer from the disease. Previously trapped in that mirror of demands that is college and competitive sport, Abel felt maybe as if he wasn't there as much as he wanted to be, and now he was running back.

Abel started a blog called Abel's 6n6 Challenge in September of '10. Currently, it's a shiny, easily scrollable stop for running songs, articles, events, and all sorts of charity and helping hands (and feet), but at first it was the kind of jargon that runners geek out on -- times, workouts, etc. Over time, it slowly morphed into something else. It became a place where people were not only donating but catching on, and Abel found that the more he gave himself up, the more rewarded he actually felt.

It's something Bill Clinton stumbled upon and wrote about in his book, Giving. It's the most selfish act in the world because really, nothing feels greater. Abel plowed through his six marathons across a smattering of states, and suffered injury, apocalyptic heat, torrential rains, and other things to get through and spread the word, like...eating a bunch of cookies. But Abel found out too that time was redeemable not just for cash, but for betterment. Experience. "Self-serving and selfless at the same time," in his own words.

Abel started to raise money for the cause by making himself take on daunting tasks, many times reader-suggested. He held a seven-minute plank. He grew a big old beard. He ate sleeves of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in minutes. He turned his home into a haunted house. And at first, Abel tried to keep his identity secret. This wasn't going to be about LA and Community and etc. But darn if the readers didn't catch on.

Abel, thanks to his good fortune, was able to synthesize. At first he was worried that his distractions at work (now essentially running a non-profit organization while trying to manage a producer's schedule) would prove problematic for the industry people, but when the industry caught on, it had a more desirable effect. Abel was able (hey, wait a second!) to auction off a walk-on spot on Community (a big deal -- a $4,000 deal roughly), raffle off Community prizes, and get shout-outs from the likes of Alison Brie. A video he recorded with her became a viral gif (she blew a kiss; basemented blokes the world round rejoiced) and brought back the most traffic to Abel's blog as he'd seen. As a return favor, Abel pimped out the name of the gif maker, and the cycle of help continued. It helped Abel realize even more that he shouldn't force himself through more planks when he had bigger, more helpful, and yes, prettier things at his disposal, even if Hollywood seemed counter-intuitive to the cause at first.

Eventually, some people thought his full-time gig was event putting-togethering, so bands began to approach him for fundraising slots and publicity. Ron Burgandy Abel was not, but this was starting to become sort of a big deal, and as more and more people caught on, as events and challenges became larger and more ridiculous, his blog and his beard started to smell more and more of rich mahogany. And not in the way of pretension, but in the way, you know, where you're not even mad -- you're impressed. Which makes you wonder, maybe eating a wheel of cheese would be a good challenge...

But not everything was rewarding. Abel noted to me that, if standing in soup kitchen isn't your thing, don't try to force it -- support your causes your own way. So Abel's personal involvement extended as his art became an active part of the fundraising, from the 6n6 shop where self-made t-shirts went up, to fundraisers where he sold paintings of dinosaurs and Theodore Roosevelt duking it out on the hipster corners of LA. And no, I'm not kidding, and yes, they're awesome.

But it wasn't always easy, and not just because running is hard. Donations would wear thin through the holidays and other points, and after Abel completed his 6n6 mission. Well now what? Abel stepped up his bid in creating cool events and challenges, and managed to rope in the likes of Charlene Yi for a concert, or the promise that he'd get a tattoo of any darn thing his friends deemed if $15,000 dollars was reached by the end of May -- the end of his 6n6 calendar and his last major fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Ultimately, Abel was rewarded with something he wanted for a long time: Hermes wings on his ankles -- something he never wanted to get until he was convinced he had accomplished a goal great enough. He didn't decide that he did, but some of his friends did for him, and like Zeus re-gifting, Abel got his wings and the dollar amount was met.

In similar moments of gratification and what Abel cites as one of the more flattering moments, someone made him a "Stop Abel" t-shirt -- an homage to (forget Zeus) the god of running, Steve Prefontaine and popular "Stop Pre" shirts that cropped up back in the day when the dude just couldn't be beat. Getting a "Stop Abel" t-shirt from his readers was actually the ultimate way to tell Abel not to stop.

And whenever 6n6 started to run thin, or after Abel got his 6 done, he realized again this wasn't about him, and now 6n6 operates not just as a platform for Abel's cause, but for causes of all sorts, usually put on by other runners. From concerts to benefit the Alabama tornado victims, to delivering burritos to skid row or guerilla gardening, to awareness about issues like famine in Africa, these were people getting involved now in their own way and, in some cases, runners who, in the most flattering thing of all to Abel, were either inspired by his original premise, or even thought about him as a motivating tool in their own battles of foot vs. ground for distance.

But as the demands of 6n6 grew, well, more demanding, Abel learned a lot about his priorities and his opportunities. "Giving can't be guilt." That's well-put. We can't put small down payments on the world's problems and expect them to disappear. Instead, solution has to be passion, as much as Abel's art and running were for him.

Abel discovered everyone comes to this on their own terms. He couldn't judge "who donated, how, or when." But any donation and involvement touched him. He found himself giving more and more of his time, writing personalized thank you notes to everyone who'd donate, wondering how he would pay for all the postage, then receiving a batch of stamps from a donater in the mail. Again, the helpful cycle seemed to keep going as long as someone got it started.

Abel found that less and less of his passion lay in the professional world and that his bosses would let some of his work slide to pursue the cause -- it was more important. It turns out Hollywood isn't entirely without a conscience or a sense of greater things.

Abel admits that celebrity lends credibility (as evidenced with the Brie video, gif, and related epiphanies), but it was again a lesson learned in using your resources and not denying them. "Take advantage," Abel said, "of every advantageous call, connection on hand. Just ask." That's kind of the Hollywood rule of thumb for getting ahead. But when the same rules applied to giving, Abel got a big response. It's something we can all do. Just ask. We all have something to give, if even T-Rex fighting Theodore Rex. "Do what you love and feel good about what you do, and adapt it to the cause."

That's hip help, and as Abel noted, right now in LA, help is very hip. Causes these days are almost fashion statements, but it doesn't make them any less giving or, for Abel, any less selflessly founded or vested in. "Being cool can be good; doing good can be cool." Abel was starting to sound more and more like a philanthropist and not just the dude that let me have chips (though that too was philanthropy).

And as more people identified Abel this way, as an event planner and mouthpiece for causes, he got more and more comfortable with the idea and sees it as something he could see himself doing, more than the desk-locked days of a Hollywood assistant. Abel had a dream job for many people, myself included, but what Abel found in his corporate quest is what many do -- it's not always fulfillment. Even running couldn't always be. The truest formula to redeem the time was giving, which means that the kid in Oklahoma dreaming of a Hollywood job...the real dream isn't really that far away, it's just waiting to be found and realized.

The truth is, at the end of the day, Abel's accidental new hobby and following may have done more to change him than it has Leukemia & Lymphoma, but that kind of effect isn't selfish -- it's what you get when you give, and when you run -- growth. "It calmed me, made me more peaceful, more empathetic, understanding, and patient."

But that doesn't mean Abel didn't or isn't making a difference. Though his marathons and fundraisers specifically for LLS are over, perhaps the biggest compliment of all -- and something Abel wouldn't have expected in the beginning, posting training digits in the corners of the Internet -- is that 6n6 survives and thrives, finding new ways to give. And though he did start it unassumingly, Abel ended up finding a way to make his life make a little bit more sense by making it for the betterment of others. G4s and Nerdists Chris Hardwick hasn't reblogged anything of mine just yet, as he has Abel's...but I haven't eaten a sleeve of cookies either...well, not for a good cause anyway. And it never meant it was easy. Abel got tired, more off the marathon courses than on, and when the donations ran thin, he naturally wondered why bother? But he realized he was part of something now, where other people were bothering because he did, and he was because others before him had and were now, and it was just worth doing -- even more worth doing than the Hollywood get-ahead, even as Hollywood came out of the woodwork to talk up the cause.

There's that showbiz saying that goes "break a leg." Abel literally did in his running, but at least it was for something this time around. And the show always went on and still is, whether it be Community, Abel's job there, or now more than anything 6n6 and its outgrowing causes. You should check out Abel's latest and past at his site now, but more importantly, try to figure how you might mount this fancy little trick yourself.

Through some social networking, resourcefulness, honesty, and ingenuity -- and yes, some dedication -- Abel may have gone from the illusion of someone that had it together and was getting everything done, advancing in sought-after career, to someone that actually did, succeeding in a selfless act. With the curtain pulled back, the magic is revealed. We just have to try in our own ways. If you can't run, if you can't draw, go ahead and do your own magic -- saw a woman in half (but only if you're a magician). You might find that, in that act, you'll find your own life coming further together.

Abel caught my attention because I was new to LA, to the biz, to this world post-school where we very much are responsible for our own destinies, as well as our day to day. I wanted to know, just how is this guy managing the time? Easy. He was giving it up.

Abel's blog is here. 

It's shop is here.

And Community's involvement can be seen here, where Alison Brie did some video and the whole cast ponied up to sign memorabilia.  

For more ways to get involved in your own causes, take advantage of your own talents and time, and I'll try to do the same.