We are excited to officially announce our 2nd annual book drive, Accio Books! From March 1 - 31st, The Harry Potter Alliance is asking YOU to donate books to benefit the people of the Mississippi Delta. The books can be new or used, from any genre, and for all age groups. Last year, we raised 14,000 books! This year, let’s go above and beyond that. Our partner,  The Delta Center for Culture and Learning, will disperse all of your donated books to many different communities within the Delta.

Join us this Saturday, February 27, from 4:00 - 6:00pm EST on Livestream as we get ready to kick off Accio Books!  The show will feature special guests from the Mississippi Delta, as well as our Heads of Houses: Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters for Gryffindor, Lauren Fairweather from the Moaning Myrtles and Five Awesome Girls for Hufflepuff, YA Author Maureen Johnson for Ravenclaw, and Brian Ross of Draco and the Malfoys for Slytherin!!!!!

We will be announcing the winners of our Helping Haiti Heal donation drive on Tuesday, March 2nd LIVE at 8:30pm EST.  Tune in to find out if you won one of our awesome prizes!

Helping Haiti Heal raised over $123,000 over the course of two weeks for Partners in Health. We are thrilled and astounded at the generosity of Harry Potter fans and we hope to see you there!

Hey everyone are you ready for Accio Books! 2010?  It is almost here!  More information will be coming on March 1st so get ready… Also stay tuned for an announcement about the kick off livestream coming up very soon!

The entire HPA staff would like to welcome our newest staff member, Adam Zackariah. Although he’s new to the staff, he’s got the HPA in his blood. You see, he’s only slightly over 24 hours old! His mom, Rachel, is on staff as a bit of a fundraising guru. She’s in charge of keeping us all focused on acknowledging our donors. She is also a Co-Chapter Organizer in the Atlanta area.

So, Rachel, on behalf of the entire staff, I want to wish you congratulations. May the lives of all in your family be filled with love, light, and fun!

As we speak, the Helping Haiti Heal effort has raised nearly $97,000! If we get to $105,000, it will allow us to charter three cargo planes full of critical, life-saving supplies for thousands of people in Haiti. We have recently received word that Partners In Health will name those three planes Harry, Ron, and Hermione!

Imagine that: our sending three planes officially named Harry, Hermione, and Ron to an area that so very much needs the love, strength, and fortitude of Harry, Hermione, and Ron - what finer way to honor the gift that JK Rowling has given us than by making this happen in her character’s names! When JK Rowling heard of what we have all done together she asked Melissa Anelli to pass along the following message:

To everyone who has helped raise such an incredible amount for the earthquake survivors in Haiti: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Like many others, I made a personal donation to the DEC shortly after the earthquake happened; but never did I expect such an amazing response from all of you. You cannot imagine how awed, moved and humbled I am to know that planes named Harry, Ron and Hermione are going to be flying off to help. I did not need this to remind me how extraordinary Harry’s fans are, but you keep giving me proofs. THANK YOU! - Jo

We still need your help! We’re about eight thousand dollars away from making this happen but our fund raiser ends on Saturday February 6 at 11:59 pm. You can still enter to win a full set of signed Harry Potter books and many more awesome prizes - AND your money is literally going to save lives in Haiti. If you can’t donate, tell someone who can. If you know someone who might want to take part but might not know about the effort, e-mail them right now. Tell your business you’re doing this for a matching donation, Tweet, post on Facebook, tell your local news outlet: we can get there with your help!

And stay tuned for live web casts at thehpalliance.org/haiti with John Green tonight at 5 pm EST and all of us at 2 pm EST tomorrow!

But right now: what are you waiting for? Let’s help send the trio to Haiti!

Andrew Slack and the Harry Potter Alliance Board of Directors and Staff

P.S. Follow our efforts on Twitter @tweetaha and @thehpalliance

It’s February! The month of LOVE! <3 Why not spread the LOVE while spreading the WARMTH?

Magical Acts of Warmth (MAW) is an opportunity for you to spread warmth locally or around the world to those in need. There are a lot of people and animals that need a little extra warmth, care and kindness. We can help. In places like Ulanbaatar, Mongolia the temperatures can go to -40° F. In hospitals throughout the country, throughout the world, there are critically ill patients that need a little extra care. Hats, blankets, scarves, or gloves could brighten someone’s day.

Anyone can help! Do you knit or crochet? Take out your needles and/or hooks! Even if you don’t have time to create something or don’t know how, you can always do a monetary donation, or donate an article of clothing, shoes, etc.

Share your creations, thoughts, opinions or questions in our Common Room Forum! You pick where to send it and share with the rest of us.

This will be an ongoing campaign throughout the year. So, you don’t necessarily have to join in now. You can participate whenever you’d like.

You can check out where you can help out locally as well as internationally here.

Spread the love. Spread the warmth. <3

Helping Haiti Heal, the fundraiser for Partners in Health, has reached a total of well over $66,000!! And, what is more, we’ve decided to extend the deadline for the Signature Items! That means you have until February 6th, 11:59 PM EST to donate and still be eligible to win some of the awesome prizes.

Subscribe to http://www.twitter.com/tweetaha for the most current info on Helping Haiti Heal including details on special upcoming live shows (trust me, you will want to be here for that!) and donation totals. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday Jan 30 at 2 pm = amazing livestream 4 Helping Haiti Heal: http://bit.ly/6NOs2d & plz giv here: http://bit.ly/6ZWpck

The Harry Potter Alliance has united with fan communities across the world, raising over $50,000 for Helping Haiti Heal! That money will charter an entire cargo plane that will bring critical life-saving supplies to thousands of Haitians and more.

Saturday January 30 at 2 pm will be another epic livestream at thehpalliance.org/haiti!!!

And we’re still going! When you donate at thehpalliance.org/haiti/prizes, you become eligible to receive one of over 200 thank you gifts based on individual donation levels. These gifts include a:

-Full UK set of seven signed Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling, along with a handwritten card from the author!!!
-Signed guitar from Harry Potter actor Tom Felton’s personal collection.
-Harry Potter book signed by the Harry Potter cast (courtesy of actress Evanna Lynch)!!!
-Signed copies of Unseen Academicals and Wintersmith by author Sir Terry Pratchett!
-A signed copy of Harlequin Valentine from Neil Gaiman!
-And so much more!

We are less than $17,000 away from chartering a second plane for Partners In Health! Every little bit helps - please donate today!

What we are doing is unprecedented in bringing together the entire Harry Potter fan community with fan sites for “True Blood,” “Mad Men,” “Firefly,” “Lord of the Rings,” “The Guild,” “Ghostbusters,” as well as stars from “The Wire,” “Heroes,” and more! Join us again Saturday January 30 at 2 pm EST right here and let’s keep going!!!

It’s official, Helping Haiti Heal has raised over $40,000 in less than 48 hours! Remember, you can donate up until January 30th and still be eligible for over 200 prizes, one of which is a signed, complete set of the UK edition Harry Potter novels personally donated by J. K. Rowling herself! Check back here for updates as the donation drive continues!

Max here, HPA Ning Manager, bringing you the latest activity over at the Ning! Jodi B, Hufflepuff, has written a wonderful blog post about the personal impact yesterday’s “Helping Haiti Heal” had on her. Jodi writes:

“I just feel so proud, so alive and like I want to do more . . . Today I realized the good we can really do in the world.”

She writes of how frustrated she was with the perpetual machine of everyday life, and how “Helping Haiti Heal” allowed her to remember what was truly important:

“I had sunk into the Muggle Mindset. And this has pulled me right out of that, and I feel like dancing in the rain. If only it were raining.”

To find out more, read the post in its entirety here.