The Harry Potter Alliance has won first place in the the Chase Community Giving Challenge, which means we have won $250,000. Voting ended on Monday at 11:59pm EST. It was a tense and crazy night, but we did it. Thanks to everyone who voted and supported us! We’ll have more info soon, but for now our staff is taking a brief, but well-deserved rest.

Congratulate yourselves, we couldn’t have done it without you.

In light of the fifth and final plane, “Dumbledore” arriving in Haiti this week, yesterday morning, I was floored in getting the following note from JK Rowling addressed for all of us:

Many of you will remember Jo’s last note concerning Helping Haiti Heal back in February. It was especially thanks to Jo’s donation of all seven Harry Potter books signed by her that allowed us to give Partners In Health enough for five planes to Haiti. Unexpectedly, the winner of the books has been generous enough to re-auction them to you and the chance to win is only $40 (all proceeds go to charity!).

Please come to our FINAL HELPING HAITI HEAL Livestream tomorrow right here where we will celebrate the last plane to Haiti, all that we have done, and officially kick off the new auction for a JK Rowling signed copy of all seven HP books!

Joining us on the Livestream will be the cast of Pottercast along with Mugglecast’s Andrew Sims and Ben Schoen in what is sure to be an amazing “LeakyMug”!!!, Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch, Wizard Rockers, Hogwarts Radio, exclusive interviews with our heroes at Partners in Health creator/legend Paul Farmer and their executive director Ophelia Dahl (who will be talking about what her father the late Roald Dahl would have thought of Harry Potter), and some more special surprise guests!

I am overwhelmed by Jo’s generosity and what this community has done for Haiti. I wish you all the best of luck in winning the books, please join us tomorrow, and remember to allow us to continue to change the world please vote for us in HPAFTW!

Why, hello there! How’ve you been? How’s your mother? Is that a new haircut? Now that we’ve got those tedious formalities out of the way, on to the regularly scheduled Weekly Wrap-Up Blog, written by moi, Emma.

HPAFTW:
Try to remain calm once you’ve read this marvelous news. The HPA is in first place in the Chase Community Giving Contest! If you haven’t voted yet, do so by going to http://bit.ly/hpaftw Then, join the slew of people, such as Potter actors Tom Felton and Chris Rankin, in spreading the word by telling all your friends and family.

Temporary HPA Staff:
The HPA is looking for temporary staff members to help with HPAFTW. To learn more, read this blog or send an e-mail to hpaftw@thehpalliance.org

New HPA Merchandise:
Check out the marvelous new necklace made by HPA staffer Eme, you can find it here in our shop. Take a look at all the other HPA goodies while your at it!

Indian Caste System:
60 years later, and India’s caste system may be making a revival. To learn more about what’s going on and what effects reinstating the caste system could have, read this news article.

One Ocean-One World:
HPA member Dorothy wrote a truly insightful blog this week. In it, she makes comparisons and connections, and uses water as a metaphor for humanity.

What Would You See In The Mirror of Erised?:
As Potter fans, I’m sure we’ve all considered what we would see if we were to look into the Mirror of Erised. If you feel like sharing, go ahead and chime into this intriguing discussion.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
As everyone who isn’t currently residing under a rock knows, the Harry Potter theme park opened this week! To read all about it (and to see some very neat pictures) go to http://www.insidethemagic.net/2010/06/wizarding-world-of-harry-pott…

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to vote for the HPA to win $250K at http://bit.ly/hpaftw

Tears are welling up in my eyes right now. I just got an email from Partners In Health letting me know that “Dumbledore,” our fifth and final plane for Helping Haiti Heal, has landed!

We will be celebrating this occasion this Sunday at 2 p.m. EST during a big Livestream!

As a community, we have sent approximately 80,000 pounds of critical medical supplies to Haiti!

Besides the fact that our work profoundly touched and may have saved the lives of thousands of people, we named all five planes with very clear intentions: “Harry,” “Hermione,” “Ron,” “DFTBA,” and “Dumbledore.”

With our first plane, Read the rest of this entry »

Please join tonight’s Live HPA DA meeting on Ustream at 8:00 pm EST!

In tonight’s call we will continue to talk about What Would Dumbledore Do – a project that is your chance to blog about both your relationship with Dumbledore and what you think the world could learn from Dumbledore’s example at this critical moment in human history.

Please take part in what is going to be a fun and stimulating conversation about this project by being part of the call tonight right here on Pottercast’s Ustream and sending questions via Twitter to @thehpalliance

The call will last one hour.

After that, at 9:45 pm EST (nine and three quarters) Andrew Slack will be hosting “Late Night Snack with Andrew Slack” which should go pretty late as Andrew reads and discusses the book that he is writing on Dumbledore.

We hope to see you there!

Andrew, Kate, Karen, Hope, and the whole HPA Staff

Hey everybody, apologies for the lateness. We had some technical difficulties with our podcasting service. And without further ado:

At our live DA meeting on June 10, Andrew Slack, Hope Mullinax, and Karen Bernstein had a fabulous discussion with each other and the listeners in the USTREAM chat about the Harrry Potter Alliance’s What Would Dumbledore Do? campaign, which was launched at LeakyCon 2009.

Among the many ideas and actions discussed were:

-Why is it important to think about what Dumbledore taught us?
-What is What Would Dumbledore Do? and how long will this campaign last?
-How to harness the media blitz surrounding the movies to bring attention to important causes and events that might otherwise go unreported or under reported
-How Dumbledore moved from an inspirational, untouchable “God-like” character to a more relatable human being in the later books and what we can learn from this transformation
-How we can all be true to the spirit of Albus Dumbledore
-Harry’s hero complex and how our human experience can help us when working on difficult issues like genocide and poverty
-The differences between a wizarding mindset and the muggle mindset when it comes to issues of social justice and social action
-The impact of death and grief on our own lives
- How can you get involved? Blog on the Common Room, post a video response to the WWDD video on the Harry Potter Alliance’s YouTube channel, or contact dumbledore@thehpalliance.org for other ways to get involved.
-The USTREAM chat room discusses bacon, and Andrew, Karen and Hope call Paul DeGeorge and wish him a happy 30th birthday.

Direct Download link: http://media.libsyn.com/media/hpapotterwatch/06_10_09_DA_Meeting_WWDD01.mp3

The following press release comes from the Save Darfur Coalition. It’s huge! (though keep in mind, these are our most active members of Congress. Most of Congress is not nearly doing any thing close to this)

WASHINGTON – Members of Congress – including Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), John Lewis (D-GA), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) – and Darfur activist leaders were today arrested for civil disobedience outside of the Sudanese Embassy while protesting the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Darfur. Participants called on the international community to impose clear costs on the Sudanese government if it continues its use of starvation as a weapon of war. Additionally, advocates urged President Obama to be firm in responding to the impending humanitarian crisis, promoting international justice and working toward a viable long-term peace that includes Darfur and a reinvigorated Comprehensive Peace Agreement for the south.
Read the rest of this entry »