Harry Potter Stars Show Generosity This Holiday Season

Dec 14, 2016

Posted by: Lainey Ruffner

Charity, Holidays, News, Rickman, Thompson, Walters

The holidays are one of the most popular times of year for giving and a few of the Harry Potter actors have made the media lately for doing their part. Emma Thompson offered her support to the ActionAid UK campaign, Julie Walters became an ambassador for the Midlands Air Ambulance charity, and even Alan Rickman, despite his passing, continues to generate revenue for OneClickGiving through his video ‘This Tortoise Could Save a Life.’

ActionAid UK is a campaign that is dedicated to supporting and empowering women and children around the world who are living in poverty. Emma Thompson is participating in their newly launched blog for the holidays, ‘Yours, Mrs Claus,’ a blog specifically created to tell stories from Mrs. Claus’s point of view as well as generate holiday goodwill by encouraging the giving of gifts to children in need. Purchasing a gift allows buyers to choose a specific allocation for their donation, including toys for poor children, food or livestock for families, and education for young girls.

The Hamilton Spectator reported Emma as saying,

“I was inspired by this campaign and the synergy that it draws between the often ‘hidden’ Mrs Claus, and the work that ActionAid does to support some of the most marginalised women and girls living in the poorest parts of the world. I have seen for myself how ActionAid champions these women and works with local volunteers to empower them to change their lives for good.”

To help support the cause along with Thompson you can visit the website by clicking here!

Julie Walters agreed to become an ambassador for the Midlands Air Ambulance in honor of their 25th year of service. The charity, which receives no government funding, operates three fully staffed and equipped emergency air ambulances in six Midlands counties including, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. They are only able to remain fully operational with the support and donations of public and local businesses.

Julie Walters, who is from the Midlands area and also worked as nurse herself prior to acting, said this about her support to Express and Star,

“I am absolutely delighted to support and help raise awareness of the lifesaving work of the Midlands Air Ambulance charity in its 25th anniversary year as part of #AIR25. I was astonished to learn that the charity has to raise 7 million pounds each year and every year and receives no funding from either the Government of the National Lottery and relies solely on the generositry of the local people across the Midlands. The pilots, flying doctors and paramedics all do an incredible and amaszing job literally saving lives every day. I fully support the lifesaving work of this brilliant charity across the entire Midlands area and would encourage the public to help make a differnece by hleing the chairy of making a donation so that they can sontinue their briilaint work saving lives for another 25 years.”

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity chief Hanna Sebright said, “We are delighted to have gained the support of Julie Walter to help up highlight the important lifesaving work we do here.”

Also agreeing to become an ambassador for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity was Walters’ Harry Potter co-star James Phelps.

Even Alan Rickman continues to raise money for OneClickGiving through a video he did a voice over for that was released on YouTube for the holidays around this time last year, about a month before his passing. The video is called ‘This Tortoise Could Save a Life’ and features a tortoise eating a strawberry while Rickman explains how simply watching the video raises money for a good cause. Rickman will continue to help these charities with each view as long as the video continues to be watched. The money earned gets donated to Save the Children and Refugee Council.

The short, entertaining video is attached below but to make sure you are supporting Rickman and OneClickGiving’s cause you should also watch the video on YouTube by clicking here. Hopefully Alan Rickman’s goodwill can live on through this video and in other ways and continue to make the world a better place even after his passing.

These stars continue to be role models for all of us as fans and hopefully their generosity will inspire others to give this season!





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.