My friends, family, acquaintances, and blog readers:

I am growing a moustache. And I need your help.

The short version is that it’s for charity, and you need to click here to give as much money as you can to a great cause before March 19.

The long version starts a few years ago, when I started volunteering for 826 CHI in Chicago. They’re a writing center that does tons of great stuff for Chicago schoolchildren — they started up a few years ago as a branch of Dave Eggers’ (of McSweeney’s fame) 826 Valencia in San Francisco, but since they started, they’ve grown a whole lot, and they now comprise not only “The Boring Store” over on Milwaukee north of Division here in the city (which is a spy supply store that you will find nothing of interest in should you chance to visit), but behind it, a writing center where all kinds of magic happens. I usually help out with after school tutoring (which consists of free tutoring every weekday afternoon in which the kids can come in and just work on their homework or whatever writing currently needs to be done), but the center also runs in-school trips, field trips to the center itself (ask me to tell you about Admiral Moody sometime, it’s hilarious), runs workshops during the school year and summer for children of all ages, and publishes books based on the children’s work. In all the time I’ve worked there, I’ve seen again and again how dedicated these people are to doing great things for the children of Chicago, and helping those same kids do great things of their own.

It’s a great charity, and one I’ve been proud to help out for a while, even if I did it only to meet Dave Eggers. And now, I’m helping them again — they’ve asked me to grow a moustache.

That was a lot of text, so let’s put in a picture. Here’s me now (or rather, me on Wednesday last, just off of a clean shave):

I know — kind of sneaks up on you, right? And here is an artist’s representation of where I hope to be in a month:

I lied, it wasn’t done by a professional artist. I’ll explain the money in the background in a second.

Yes, I am going to be growing the arguably manliest of facial hair (topped only, perhaps, by mutton chops): the moustache. And so are a bunch of other people, but you don’t have to worry about them, because you, my friend, family member, co-worker, acquaintance, and/or random person reading my blog (perhaps found via my stellar work on TUAW, WoW Insider, or Massively): you support me.

So I need your cash. More specifically, 826 CHI needs your cash. They do a lot of fund raising throughout the year (they’re about to release a book in about a month, which will include essays that I helped edit, and they’re having a prom later this year), but this “Moustache-o-thon” is a big deal for them — it’s one of the ways that they’re going to raise the money they need to keep their programs happening every day.

What you’ve got to do, right now if possible, is click this link to go to Paypal, and donate a little bit to 826 for me. I’ll suggest $20, because that’s a nice round number (and it’s also about the cost of a night at the movies, which is where I’ll get embarrassed multiple times over the next month, I’m sure, for having such a shoddy moustache), but you can donate (via credit card or Paypal) as much or as little as you want. If you want to send a check, you can use the address on this page, and if you want to, in the next month, surreptitiously pass me a wad of cash when you next see me, I’ll happily take it and pass it on, without taking the requisite “finder’s fee” usually included in such clandestine circumstances, to the good folks at 826.

That’s the deal. I grow a moustache (and traditionally, this is not something I do very well, so it will probably be a source of entertainment), I’ll post pictures and updates here on the site, and in return, I ask you please to give generously to 826 CHI. And hopefully in a month, I’ll have a moustache to be proud of, and just like in the picture above, I’ll have stacks of money, direct from you, to donate to this great cause.

Thanks for your support, and thanks for giving. I’ll have an update as soon as there is one to post. Already I feel the follicles generating those hair cells! Surely I am Selleck-stache bound!