The Burrow

We held officer elections for the 2018-19 year during the meeting. 

We are still in the process of planning an event to benefit the Riley County Humane Society. Tentative plans include hosting a sale at K-State to raise funds to buy supplies for the Society. We’ll continue to discuss plans in the coming weeks.

The Burrow will be participating in the Children’s Carnival as part of K-State’s 2018 Homecoming Week activities. The Carnival will be held on Thursday, 11 October from 6 to 8 pm. The plan is to have a duck pond for the carnival with small prizes and candy. Later in October, we plan to use the same duck pond for a chapter outreach and advertising event. We plan to have a table set up in the K-State Student Union on 22 and 23 October with our duck pond to give away larger prizes and information about the Burrow.

The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA): A History The HPA is a non-profit global organization that advocates social activism through fandom passion, including, but not limited to Harry Potter. The HPA was founded in 2005 by Andrew Slack and Paul and Joe DeGeorge and now has over 225 individual chapters across the globe including in 18 countries (and counting!). You can visit their official website: http://www.thehpalliance.org/

The Values of the HPA (found via their website) are guiding values of not only the global HPA but of our chapter as well. The Values are as listed:

We believe in magic

We believe that unironic enthusiasm is a renewable resource

We know fantasy is not only an escape from our world, but an invitation to go deeper into it

We celebrate the power of community—both online and off

We believe that the weapon we have is love

Andrew Slack described fan activism (that’s what we do!) as cultural acupuncture, which is a redirecting of fandom energy to other areas that need the same type of passion. Fan Activism is described as using the power of fandoms to promote positive social change. The HPA has done some pretty cool campaigns and you can see a list by visiting https://www.thehpalliance.org/campaign. 

The Granger Leadership Academy (GLA) 

You can learn more by visiting their website: Granger Leadership Academy 

The GLA is a cool leadership conference that is hosted by the HPA once a year to give chapter members the tools to make a positive change in their world PLUS you get to meet members of the HPA from all over. The next conference is in Philadelphia, PA from March 21-24, 2019.

The Burrow

We’re an Independent Student Organization (ISO). Our faculty advisor is Karin Westman and she’s super awesome. She’s also the head of the English Department.

We’ve done a lot of events and campaigns in the past. We campaign and fundraise for funds primarily not to keep, but to pass along. All the money we raise goes towards another charity or non-profit organization. The list is quite long so here are some cool highlights:

Hallows & Horcruxes Balls

The Weapon We Have Is Love: Wizard Rock Concert

Wizard Rock the Vote

Accio Books/First Book

Adopt-An-Angel

Fundraising for Cats’ Cupboard (the on-campus food pantry)

Fundraising for Direct Relief (a non-profit organization that provides relief for victims of natural disasters all over the globe)

Last year we really focused on raising money for Direct Relief and Cats’ Cupboard. 

Tentative Semester Schedule

Everything is subject to change, so dates may be added or deleted from this list.

Dates:

9/8 Meeting

9/22 Meeting

9/26 First Farmer’s Market

First of October: Star Wars Reads

10/6 Meeting

10/7-10/13 Homecoming Week

10/20 Meeting

10/31 Second Farmer’s Market

November TBD Dessert Theatre

11/3 Meeting and Halloween Party

11/17 Meeting

12/1 Meeting

12/15 Meeting with Holiday Party

Possible Projects

We’re very open to projects and we’d love to hear ideas from new members! Our projects change from year to year and even semester to semester. The Burrow tailors its projects based on the interests of our members. This year, we’re looking at having a drive or fundraiser for the Riley County Humane Society as well as a bake sale (or, a bake sale to raise funds for the Humane Society). In the coming weeks, we’ll continue brainstorming.  

Fandom Forward

The HPA provides free toolkits that help chapter members think of ways they can help engage with their communities. These toolkits are based on more than just Harry Potter; there are toolkits for the Marvel fandom, including Black Panther and Jessica Jones, as well as other fandoms such as Doctor Who and Steven Universe.  All their toolkits can be found for free at https://www.thehpalliance.org/fandomforward