Harry Potter Fans Unite For Bread

Information for this article comes from Taylorlyn Stephan followed by a Q&A interview with Taylorlyn.

The SHS Harry Potter Alliance: PotterWatch will be hosting a Quidditch Tournament Friday, Sept. 23, from 2:30 - 4:30pm.

Meet us at Lower Jackson field with your broomstick and teammates to help us raise money for Project Bread. No experience required. Concessions and T-shirts will be sold.

Equipment will be provided, but bonus points if you bring your own. 
Cost is $2 per player or $7 for a team of 7. To register, email swampscotthpachapter@gmail.com or see Emily Walls, Jackie Thomsen or Taylorlyn Stephan.Volunteers and donations are always welcome!

A Q&A With Event Organizer Taylorlyn Stephan

What is Project Bread?

Project Bread is an organization dedicated to "alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts."

Even in towns like Swampscott, there are families that live paycheck to paycheck and food can become a side issue when electricity and water bills need to be paid.

Project Bread helps solve this issue with its hunger hotline, food pantries and banks, nutrition programs and other projects.

Why are you supporting it?

We chose to support it because of all the organizations we considered, it was the first one that really "clicked."

Hunger is a topic that we [Taylorlyn Stephan, Emily Walls and Jackie Thomsen] are pretty passionate about.

Emily works at the Food Project, Taylorlyn has completed the Walk for Hunger and Jackie has participated in food drives at school and her church.

Hunger and food are also themes in the Harry Potter novels - Harry was starved and continually hungry as a child living in Privet Drive; when the trio went to fight Horcruxes in the final book, they faced hunger and lack of supplies; and the Hogwarts Great Hall has four massive tables that magically replenish themselves with food for the students and teachers.

It's a cause that our chapter, along with JK Rowling and Harry Potter, are concerned with.

Tell me a little about the SHS Potter Alliance.

The Harry Potter Alliance is a non-profit organization that works for human rights, social justice, equality and a better world by using the messages and themes in the Harry Potter novels by JK Rowling.

Our chapter (PotterWatch) at Swampscott High strives to make charity fun.

We started our chapter last year and currently have about 30 members.

We have participated in several events like the Lumos Party at the Deathly Hallows Pt. I midnight premiere in Salem (gathering signatures for a petition to make Warner Bros. chocolate products fair trade) and have gathered 550+ books in our Accio Books Campaign that were donated to Horizons for Homeless Children in Boston.

What is your position with the group and what should people expect if they attend the event?

I, along with Emily Walls and Jackie Thomsen run the chapter as the "trio" - modeled after Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

If people attend the tournament, they should expect to see our adaptation of Quidditch - kids running around on broomsticks trying to hit balls through hula hoops - and have fun.

We're going to have snacks and concessions, video footage of the Quidditch World Cup and college-level Quidditch teams available to watch, tutorials that will teach people how to play Quidditch, and maybe some Harry Potter artwork made by students.