I am proud to announce that HPA Chapter The Order of the Mustangs has won the second Chapter Cup!

Every time we run a house competition, we also run a contest between chapters. For Wrock for Equality, chapters competed with “hours of participation” for phone calls and concert-watching.

The Order of the Mustangs put in a total of nine hours to win. Two chapter members - Caitlin and Laurel - got together to make phone calls and then watch their first Harry and the Potters / Draco and the Malfoys concert on livestream -  a full day of dedication to equal rights. Caitlin described it as a blast!

What’s especially cool about the Order of the Mustangs is that they were able to do all of this without even becoming a full-fledged chapter! Although Caitlin and Laurel have been working with the HPA for several weeks, their first interest meeting is actually next week. However, we are proud to say that they’ve jumped right in and tackled HPA campaigns like pros! (True proof that all you need to start a successful chapter is two dedicated people and a little bit of time).

Congratulations, Order of the Mustangs, and congratulations and thanks to all of the other chapters who entered the Chapter Cup!

(Want to start your own chapter? Start here)

A tour really begins the moment you start booking it – you have to cut a path across the country in your mind before you can cross it physically. I’ve imagined this entire tour several times over; the point A to point B to point C of constructing that initial schedule, the forced rearrangement of cities when a venue falls through, the highways we’ve driven so many times now that we could probably find our way from Rhode Island to Santa Monica without consulting a map… Then there’s the obsession over details, the financial considerations, the anxiety over being away from home for a month and a half, the excitement over certain cities you know will be very successful…. By the time you’re actually done booking a tour, you’ve already completed it five or six times in your brain. Maybe more.

Read the rest of this entry »

This Blog Post was written by Lexington High School HPA Chapter Organizers Jenny Bobrow and Matt Elyanow.

See more pictures here
On Easter Sunday, three of the members of the Lexington High School HPA chapter went to sort through the books that had been sent there for Rwanda. Our task was to open the boxes and choose the best 200 to send, and we only had four hours to finish.
Two hundred sounds like a lot. But when you have to choose 200, out of thousands, well that makes it a bit more difficult. How were we ever going to decide what to pick out? Do we send The Chronicles of Narnia or The Golden Compass? An Abundance of Katherines or Nancy Drew? The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or the Twilight series? Well, the answer to those questions was to send them all. But with each book that went in, other books could not.

The hardest part of choosing books was diversity. We wanted books that could appeal to all types of people at all different reading levels, and we wanted to choose books in a variety of genres and topics.

We found some interesting surprises while opening the boxes of books. At random, the first small envelope that we chose to open had a return address that said…”HARRY AND THE POTTERS” which was exciting to open. That was a great start to the day. We also opened quite a few packages from out of the country! There was one from Australia and one from the Netherlands. It was amazing to see so many people from all over the world getting involved with this amazing book drive.

While boxes containing books covered the floor, there was one box that stood out from all the rest. We had picked up a small box, it was much heavier than others its size, and we could not understand how it weighed so much. Upon opening it up, we found a couple of books, but we also found a wicker basket, and most mysterious, a very heavy solid metal wheel. While the mystery of the wheel intrigued us, we were forced to move on, leaving this mystery to Nancy Drew.

We also had a bit of a situation with the Harry Potter books. For the first few hours, we found multiple copies of all the books, except, we had no copies of Deathly Hallows. It seemed like DH was avoiding us, and we began to worry Rwanda would be forever left without book seven. They would be stuck feeling as we did spring 2007, waiting eagerly for a conclusion. Just as we were about to give up, we came along the box from the Rose Wand HPA chapter from Oregon and as we tore open the brown box, we began to see a corner of an orange sky. WE HAD FOUND IT! The Rose Wand chapter had broken the anti-Deathly Hallows curse that had surrounded us, and it was the first of many copies that we found.

After packing up the 200 books that we chose, we looked back at all of the books that were left and the boxes that hadn’t even been opened. There were hundreds left sitting on tables, and with all the boxes left on the floor it seemed as if we hadn’t done anything at all. Even though we could not send every book, we are confidant that in Rwanda, they will enjoy reading the books just as much as we all had.

A few weeks ago, we let you know about a “No New Stuff” Greeting Card Drive sponsored by the Hampton Roads Chapter.

I’m excited to report that they collected 256 Greeting Cards to donate to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children!

Those cards will be recycled and sold to help raise money to fund their facilities.

And it was also a great exercise in getting rid of the “stuff” in our lives!!

Congrats, Hampton Roads Chapter!

And we’ll talk to you all about No New Stuff Wednesday night at 9pm EST right here!

The Hampton Roads Harry Potter Alliance Chapter is getting involved with No New Stuff!

Until February 22nd, the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance will be collecting used greeting cards for St. Jude’s Ranch. St. Jude’s recycles these cards and then resells them to help fund their facilities.

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children rescues abused, abandoned and neglected children of all races and faiths from the vicious cycle of child abuse.

This is a great “No New Stuff” project that hits on a lot of things - not buying new things, recycling the old, and cleaning out the clutter that surrounds us. And, it’s a way for all of us to get involved in No New Stuff…one step at a time.

If you’re interested in helping with this project, gather up your old greeting cards and send them to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

Make sure you comment on this post with how many cards you donated - and include in your package a note that this is for the Hampton Roads Harry Potter Alliance Chapter. That way, we can keep up with how many cards we send.

Stay updated on this project - join the Facebook Event.

I am very proud to announce that the Lexington High School Harry Potter Alliance Chapter in Lexington, Massachusetts has won the first Chapter Cup!

Their chapter raised $330 -  the most money raised by a single chapter for STANDfast.

They started with two bake sales at their school, where they sold brownies, chocolate chip cookies, m&m “pizza” cookies, and cupcakes to their classmates for between 25 cents and 1 dollar.

Each member of their chapter also made an individual contribution to STANDfast. They even had one member contribute more than $25 worth of pennies! And finally, they asked their friends and families to participate with them as well.

The $330 they raised will help protect the Lily Potters of Darfur and Potterwatch in Burma. If 100% of the money went to Darfur, $330 is enough to protect 110 women from being raped for one week. If 100% went to Burma, they will have protected 66 families. What an incredible contribution!

Congratulations again to the LHS Harry Potter Alliance chapter, and thank you to all of our Chapters who participated in the first Chapter Cup.

Less than a year ago, the Harry Potter Alliance announced that it would be starting local chapters around the world. Since then, the number of HPA chapters around the world has exploded, and individual chapters have grown exponentially.

Chapters have participated in Wizard Rock the Vote, Wanted for War Crimes, No On Prop 8, the 11 Days Celebration, TriWizard House Parties, and collectively raised about $800 for STANDfast.

But more than that, Harry Potter Alliance chapters have thought of creative and innovative ways to change the world….with some pretty amazing results:

• Accio Friendship in Madison, Wisconsin raised over $150 for Darfur through a Penny Drive in their local middle school
• The Rose Wand in Portland, Oregon participated in a Peace Fair where they helped people make wands and encouraged them to participate in MAK
• Pittsburgh Area Wizards helped at a Harry Potter craft table at a local bookstore
• Q.U.I.D.D.I.T.C.H. in Cary, Illinois collected 164 cans of food during a “food scavenger hunt” where they went door-to-door asking for canned goods
  They also left tootsie rolls in two classrooms for a MAK project and made cards for terminally ill children in a local hospital
• The Phoenix Pals in St. Johns, Michigan made bird feeders for Care of Magical Creatures.
• The Juustice LeagUUe in Poughkeepsie, New York raised $6,000 at Wrock for Darfur
• Clairemont’s Phoenix Tears in San Diego, California held a Book Drive for BooksFirst
• Epilogue in Moline, Illinois participated in Chalk4Peace
  They also participated in Banned Books Week by making signs to put in their local library encouraging people to read banned books
• The Capital Chapter in Washington, DC held “Read to Feed,” a study break where they helped remind college students how to read for fun. Participants were asked to bring canned food for entry.
• Lexington High School’s Harry Potter Alliance Chapter in Lexington, Massachusetts had a Bake Sale for STANDfast. They raised $330.
• DA-NC in North Carolina raised $170 for STANDfast by asking for donations at a Wizard Rock Concert and at high schools in their local community.
• SPEW in Kansas City went Trick or Treating for Darfur and raised $125.
• Flitwick Conspiracy in Schenectady went trick or treating for UNICEF.
• The Kingwood Quibblers in Kingwood, Texas went reverse trick-or-treating and handed out bookmarks
• GRAWP went on tour and raised $1500 for Haiti

If you’re interested in getting involved with a local chapter, check out our Find a Chapter page. Don’t see one near you? Email chapters@thehpalliance.org, or start one in your school or community!!

Erik Morrison is a Chapter Organizer of Amelia’s Army, The George Washington High School chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance.

Today we celebrate the 16th birthday and the memory of a true member of Dumbledore’s Army if there ever was one. Amelia Bates left us on the 22nd of October after being hit by a car near the school on the 20th. She was a leader of the George Washington High School chapter of the HPA, and an inspiration to all she met.

Amelia’s infectious smile, quick wit, and easy laugh made for a bright spirit that brought the sunshine inside the halls of the school. She possessed all the characteristics of a perfect Hogwarts student, regardless of house. The Sorting Hat would have been stumped, had it been placed on her head, although the Sorting Quiz administered to her last year put her in Slytherin. She was a great Slytherin – full of wily wit and ambition – but she could have been in any house. She was extremely brave, as the best of Gryffindors. Her wisdom was beyond her years, and she was tremendously smart, making her a great Ravenclaw. And finally, she was an unswerving, diligent, and loyal worker for any cause she put her mind to - she could have belonged in Hufflepuff just as well.

Most importantly, however, Amelia was full of love. Love for her family, her friends, even people she had never met had her love. To her close friends and family, and even to everyone reading this post, this can be a comfort. As Dumbledore so sagely said, even though she is gone, we will always have some protection from the evils of the world knowing that we were loved so deeply by this wonderful, bright soul. So the next time you wear yellow, think of that bright golden sunshine that is Amelia touching you.

Both Amelia and Dumbledore had a sparkle and a wisdom that cannot be easily forgotten, besides their tendency for cracking wry jokes when least expected.

They should be getting along famously.

Happy birthday, AB.

Erik’s chapter, Amelia’s Army, has requested that donations be made to STANDfast in memory of Amelia.
Donations can also be made to the Amelia Bates Memorial Fund:

Amelia Bates Memorial Fund
1st Bank of Cherry Creek
P.O. Box 461050
Denver, CO 80246-9924

If you want to write Amelia’s family, Erik has offered to forward cards:
Erik Morrison
984 S. Ivy St.
Denver, CO 80224

Here’s an awesome article about both Wizard Rock and a fantastic new chapter in North Carolina! AWESOME!!!

What was it, like two and a half months ago that the HPA announced that we were starting chapters? We had talked with other organizations like STAND and the Student Peace Alliance on the most effective ways of starting chapters. Well thanks to our incredible Chapter Coordinator Karen and the enthusiasm of this community we now have over 50 active chapters in over 6 countries! By September we expect to have at least 30 more chapters. If you want to be a chapter and want more info just click on “Chapters” on this main page and fill out the form - or email chapters@thehpalliance.org

Every chapter is an incredibly strong part of this Dumbledore’s Army for the real world and all of them communicate from throughout the world in our “Cyber Room of Requirement!” So get in as soon as you can!

And just to let you know, some people have decided to call their chapter: SPEW: Society for the Promotion of EVERYONE’S Welfare.”  Wow. That’s awesome!