Helping Haiti Heal (HP Alliance!)

J. K. ROWING DONATES SIGNED UK EDITIONS OF HARRY POTTER SERIES, PERSONALIZED NOTE TO HELPING HAITI HEAL FUNDRAISER
(Fans Unite to Help Haiti Heal this Saturday, January 23, 2010, in a Live Fundraising Webcast Benefiting Partners In Health)

JANUARY 22, 2010 - BROOKLYN, NY - Worldwide bestselling author J. K. Rowling has donated a full UK edition set of Harry Potternovels and handwritten note card to the Helping Haiti Heal, a home-grown effort to contribute to the growing humanitarian aid and charitable relief activities in Haiti by benefiting Partners in Health (http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti).  This contribution by J. K. Rowling comes along side a personal donation through her trust, The Volant Charitable Trust, to Haiti.

The Helping Haiti Heal live fundraising webcast will take place Saturday, January 23, 2010, at 2 P.M. EST via Livestream (http://www.thehpalliance.org/haiti), and bring together Harry Potter fans and fans of other blockbuster books, movies, and tv series such as "Heroes," "True Blood," "Mad Men," "The Wire," and "Firefly" for this effort.  The four hour event will feature a donation drive where donors have the opportunity to receive thank you gifts based on certain donation levels, several of the Internet's most popular podcasters, leaders and celebrities from various segments of popular culture, performers from popular book-based musical acts, interviews with civic leaders and Haitian Americans, and more.

"This community is uniting with other popular and vibrant fan communities to harness the energy of popular culture toward making a genuine difference in Haiti," says Andrew Slack, Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance. "We have chosen Partners In Health because they have written the book on addressing poverty in Haiti and will be with Haiti, rebuilding long after the initial effects of this recent earthquake subside."

The Helping Haiti Heal fundraising webcast aims to raise monetary funds for the benefit of the Haitian people through the donation drive of unique and personalized items donated by prominent musicians, authors, and actors.  In addition to the one-of-a-kind contribution by J. K. Rowling, items up for auction include:

• Five signed, dedicated, first edition novels by bestselling author Terry Pratchett.
  
  
• Original conception art from the film Where the Wild Things Are.
  
  
• Signed books from Time Magazine's Lev Grossman, NY Times bestselling author Melissa Anelli, Movies in 15 Minutesauthor Cleolinda Jones, and Urban fantasy novelist Lilith Saintcrow, as well as young adult authors Karen Healey,Aprilynne Pike, Pam Bachorz, Lisa Mantchev, and many more.
  
  
• A signed Mega Book Pack of 30 novels from The 2009 Debutantes (http://www.feastofawesome.com/), including: Malindo Lo, Saundra Mitchell, Sarah Ockler, Michelle Zink, and Jackson Pearce.

• Guest spots on PotterCast and Hogwarts Radio.

• Signed CDs from such wizard rock bands as The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, The Butterbeer Experience, andOliver Boyd and the Rememberalls.

• Quality replica LightSaber based on Luke's from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

• Full Access Registration to LeakyCon 2011, valued over $300.

• $200 Gift Certificate to Infinitus 2010.
  
  
• Limited edition, artist signed, Replica Slimer from Ghostbusters.
  

The fundraising webcast will also feature podcasting personalities from leading Harry Potter podcasts that reach well over 50,000 listeners: PotterCast (http://www.pottercast.com/), MuggleCast (http://www.mugglecast.com/), Hogwarts Radio (http://www.hogwartsradio.com/), FictionAlley (http://www.fictionalley.org/), and HPA’s PotterWatch (http://www.thehpalliance.org/category/potterwatch/); live performances from many wizard rockers; leaders in fan communities; personal interviews with Haitian-Americans about the importance of giving to Partners In Health; human rights activists; a representative from MIT's Media Lab discussing ways that we can donate our time using new media; and much more.  It is the aim of Helping Haiti Heal to provide ideas and inspiration across fandoms to those with the desire to aid those affected by the earthquake.  Together, we can help heal Haiti.

#  Helping Haiti Heal is sponsored by The Harry Potter Alliance (http://www.thehpalliance.org/), The Leaky Cauldron(http://www.leakynews.com/), MuggleNet.com (http://www.mugglenet.com/), HPANA (http://www.hpana.com/), and FictionAlley(http://www.fictionalley.org/).

Gilderoy Picture on Episode 26