Harry Potter Alliance Launches "Accio Books" Campaign
The IQA is pleased to announce a partnership with ...
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Paul DeGeorge, founder and Director of Campaigns and Operations for the HPA, said of the partnership: “We are so excited to be partnering with the IQA for this year's Accio Books campaign. Quidditch is a very clear representation of the importance of stories and the impact they can have in our world.”
Sarah Woolsey, IQA Development Director, is thrilled that the two organizations were able to collaborate. She explained, “The IQA has had a relationship with the HPA since our organization began, and we support each other in various initiatives. We've run book drives in the past and when the opportunity was open to partner the HPA on this project we were excited to do so.”
The books collected by Accio Books will be given to Read Indeed, a 501(c)3 non-profit literacy organization. Maria Keller, the seventh grader who founded Read Indeed, is described on that group's website as an individual who wants to make the “world a better place—one book at a time.” Keller hopes to distribute 1,000,000 books before her 18th birthday; the organization has collected and donated 802,552 books to date.
Read Indeed has distributed books to at least three continents, but is primarily based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota Metro Area. DeGeorge explained the decision to work with Read Indeed as one centered around the latter's founder: “I think Maria exemplifies a lot of what we work for at the Harry Potter Alliance. Just as Dumbledore's Army was instrumental in the fight against Voldemort, we believe in the power of young people to change and shape our world for the better.”
This year marks the fourth annual Accio Books campaign run by the HPA, and the fourth different recipient. DeGeorge summarized previous efforts: “We've built libraries in a Youth Village in Rwanda and a charter school in Brooklyn and we've helped get books distributed in the Mississippi Delta, one of the most impoverished part of the US.”
While the HPA and IQA are excited that Read Indeed will be this year's recipient, both organizations recognize the challenges associated with shipping all books to Read Indeed's Minnesota-based facility. For this reason DeGeorge explains, “We are strongly encouraging our chapters and quidditch teams to donate books to local recipients in their own communities. This saves tons of money on shipping expenses and helps to strengthen a team or chapter's presence as in their community.”
The IQA is thrilled to join the HPA in this endeavor with its “one broom, one book” program at the World Cup: the IQA requests that every player and spectator in Kissimmee bring a single book to donate to the HPA's campaign. The HPA will be collecting books at the World Cup to donate to Read Indeed and local organizations in Kissimmee.
Interested participants can contact Joey Turro, the IQA's literacy team manager, at joey.turro@internationalquidditch.org or Sarah Woolsey, the IQA's Development Director, at sarah.woolsey@internationalquidditch.org with any questions. For more information, you can check out these documents containing information on how to run a book drive, how to find a donation site, and a list of organizations that would be thrilled to receive your donations.
Joey Turro contributed reporting to this article.
