Carpe Futurum

Want an HPA Chapter Pen Pal?

carpefuturum — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:09:47 +0000

Would you like a pen pal at another Harry Potter Alliance chapter? Think of all the possibilities–share stories about what the chapters are doing to fight the dark arts, geek out over Harry Potter with a new friend, send e-mail or snail mail (crafts! postcards!), the possibilities are endless.

If you’re interested in this, please fill out the information below by the end of the day Friday, January 27, 2012:
[contact-form]

Interest Meeting & Goodie Bags for Orphans

carpefuturum — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:35:10 +0000

Happy new year, members of Carpe Futurum! We hope you’re ready for another exciting year of fighting the dark arts of the real world with Dumbledore’s Army here in Northern Virginia.

And we hope you’ll be able to join us for our 2012 interest meeting & first event on January 21. We will discuss projects we’d like to undertake while assembling goodie bags for the Orphan Foundation of America. The OFA sends these treats to young adults who have aged out of the system and have beaten the odds to make it to college. It gives them an extra sugar rush while doing classwork and lets them know there are people out there who care about their futures (we wish Harry had had that sort of message while growing up). This year, the OFA is sending Valentine’s Day themed care packages. Given that part of the Harry Potter Alliance’s logo is a heart, what could be more perfect?

Date: January 21, 2012
Time: 2:30 – 5:00 PM
Location: Meeting Room 116/117, Burke Centre Library, 5935 Freds Oak Road, Burke, VA 22015

Please join us for a fun meeting to brainstorm & help out orphans at the same time! We need lots of hands to help assemble goodie bags! Newcomers and familiar faces alike are all welcome.

Opportunity: Toys for Tots

carpefuturum — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:43:46 +0000

Looking for another easy way to give to your community on your own? Toys for Tots is a project of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Its goal is to collect and distribute brand new toys to children who wouldn’t otherwise receive toys for the holidays. They will take any new, unwrapped toys (as well as donations, of course). If you still have some gift shopping to do, you might consider buying a toy to donate!

Most Toys for Tots drop-off bins are still accepting donations through the weekend and until roughly 12/22 (some locations stop accepting donations earlier).

Find a drop-off spot near you:
Northern VA: http://quantico-va.toysfortots.org/local-coordinator-sites/lco-sites/default.asp
Other locations: http://www.toysfortots.org/donate/toys.asp

Kate donated a few toys at her local Giant Food store this week (most of the stores–if not all–have bins still). A My Little Pony and a snuggly puppy stuffed animal should make the holidays better for some kids somewhere!

It’s Project for Awesome Weekend!

carpefuturum — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:48:24 +0000

It’s Project 4 Awesome weekend! P4A is a way of using YouTube to promote amazing charities. Kate put together a video for Carpe Futurum– watch it and then comment on it at YouTube!

Ways to get involved in P4A, December 17-18, 2011:
1. Go to YouTube and do a search for p4a2011 and comment on every video you like. The more comments, the more a video will be promoted. The goal is to get as much attention in YouTube for charities. Take over the main YouTube page with awesome works of good.

2. Make & upload your own video NOW! Find out more: http://www.projectforawesome.com/

3. Visit http://www.projectforawesome.com/ to donate and bid on exiting auction items.

4. Visit http://www.projectforawesome.com/ to vote for your favorite charities and see tons of videos that are being posted.

5. Spread the word! Share links to your favorite videos of charities on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.

6. Watch the LiveStream to find out what’s happening right now (featured videos, commentary, etc.).

7. COMMENT ON ALL THE VIDEOS! Hey, we’re Harry Potter fans, we have to have 7 things in a list.

DFTBA–don’t forget to be awesome, Harry Potter fans!

Blanket-making for Charity on December 11

carpefuturum — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:18:08 +0000

We had so much fun last year… we’re going to do it again! We’re making no-sew fleece blankets again for charity.

Date: December 11
Time: 1-3:30pm
Location: Pohick Regional Library meeting rooms, 6450 Sydenstricker Rd., Burke, VA 22015-4274

We have already contacted Project Linus and the local Humane Society about the blankets. Project Linus’ mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.” And the Humane Society needs blankets for their animals, especially now that it’s getting colder.

In order to make blankets, we need materials. Please post/RSVP here or e-mail Kate to let us know you are planning to come. Let us know if you plan to either:
A- bring $12 to cover materials to make one blanket
or
B- bring your own blanket-making materials (if making a no-sew blanket, bring 2 pieces of fleece measuring 1 yard x 1 yard or 1 1/2 yards x 1 1/2 yards or 40″ x 60″ in patterns/colors that look good together) You can purchase material from local stores or from online stores such as Your Fleece (use discount code LINUS to get 15% off). Be sure to wash your fleece before you come (and don’t use scented dryer sheets, because of children who might have allergies).

Please let us know if you’re bringing $12 or bringing your own materials, that way we know how much to buy and wash ahead of time!

If you have any of the following lying about, it would also be great if you could bring: scissors, rulers, yard sticks, seam rippers, and/or straight pins for us to use and then return to you at the end of the meeting.

Project for Awesome

carpefuturum — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:58:43 +0000

This year, Carpe Futurum is going to participate in Project for Awesome (P4A). The idea is to make a video to promote a worthy charity. So the charity we’re promoting is Harry Potter Alliance Chapters. We all know the good things the Harry Potter Alliance has done over the years (5 planes to Haiti, hundreds of thousands of books donated, deathly hallows campaign), but we’re going to show why it’s so great to join a local chapter.

What’s so great about HPA chapters? An HPA chapter is able to bring fans together in real life to focus on projects that make a difference in our immediate community. We’re also able to do projects that really matter to us.There are a hundred other reasons why HPA chapters deserve to get some attention… what reasons can YOU think of?

For our P4A video, we need all the Carpe Futurum members to send things to put in our video. Send a short quote about what being in an HPA chapter means to you or about a project you’re proud we completed. Send a photo of one of our events that exemplifies the spirit of our chapter. Or film a quick video (up to 20 seconds) about how great HPA chapters are.

Deadline: December 11, 2011

Send to: kmcdevit@vt.edu
OR
Give to Kate: during the Dec 11 blanket-making meeting

Note: If you’re doing a video and the file size is more than 3MB,
you can upload your file to somewhere like dropbox

I’ll piece them together and put them up on YouTube on December 17 (Project for Awesome Day!)

Opportunity: Send Messages to Doctors Without Borders Aid Workers

carpefuturum — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:22:29 +0000

From time to time, Carpe Futurum plans on posting volunteer opportunities–things you can do or get involved with on your own.

What: Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) is collecting messages to send to their aid workers in the field during the holiday season.
Where: Online
How: Visit this page: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/messages/?msource=ADC111001D01
Write your own message of support and encouragement, wishing them happy holidays, or thanking them for their commitment to saving lives.
Deadline: November 19

October 30: Dear Mr. Potter Pages & Cards for the Troops

carpefuturum — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:32:08 +0000

Date: Sunday, October 30
Time: 2:00-5:00pm
Location: Panera, 8191 Strawberry Ln (at Gallows), Merrifield Va

Join us at Panera for an afternoon snack and an opportunity to work on some paper arts, either by creating a Dear Mr. Potter letter for Kate to include in her collection or by making decorative cards for the troops (or both!).

In case you don’t know about Dear Mr. Potter, it’s a project that pulls together fan letters about what Potter means to you. Kate is compiling a collection of our Dear Mr. Potter letters. So think about what you love about the books, movies and fandom and join us to create your letter to Mr. Potter, thanking him for the experiences you’ve had. Your letter can have art, text, photos—-whatever you want as long as it’s flat and can be inserted into the book.

Or if you prefer, you can create cards to brighten the days of our service members abroad.

What to bring: paper, pencils, pens, markers, glitter, stickers, tape, glue sticks and anything you want to include in your Dear Mr. Potter letter, such as photos.

RSVP: Since this is a short-notice event (sorry about that!), please e-mail carpefuturum@gmail.com or reply here to let us know if you plan to attend. Hope to see you there!

See Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 & Support Charity!

carpefuturum — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:46:15 +0000

See The Boy Who Lived one final time on the big screen for a great cause. On November 5 & 6, select AMC theatres will hold three showings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 to support the Will Rogers Institute. For only $5, you can witness the end of one of the best cinematic series in history as intended once again.

Thanks, Kristen S, for bringing this to our attention!

Seeing Harry Potter & helping a charity? Carpe Futurum decided that this is just too good of an opportunity to pass up!

Charity Information: http://www.wrinstitute.org/
Mission: “To perpetuate the memory of Will Rogers by promoting and engaging in medical research pertaining to cardio-pulmonary diseases and educating the general public on topics of health and fitness. “

Showtime: Sunday, November 6, Noon
Location: AMC Hoffman Center 22, 206 Swamp Fox Rd. Alexandria, VA
Cost: $5
Tickets: Buy your tickets online on your own ahead of time https://amc.movietickets.com/purchase/perf_id/658457201/exid/amc

EDIT: The DADA Meetup will be meeting for lunch right after the movie at Galae Thai, which is just across from the theater in the crescent of restaurants and shops. Even if you can’t make the movie, you can join the group for lunch around 2:30pm!

Promote Us–Post This Flyer!

carpefuturum — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:10:26 +0000

We’ve created a tear-away flyer to promote Carpe Futurum! Please print and post this flyer wherever you spend time: school, work, a local bookstore or coffee shop. Let’s get more people involved to help us make a difference!