Bringing Hope to Children

Authors and publishers are contributing to campaigns to help the Syrian refugees, with a special focus on the children. Young adult authors Patrick Ness, Suzanne Collins and Kenneth Oppel (and many more) in the UK were joined by publishers including HarperCollins, Egmont, and Hachette UK in raising funds for Save the Children. They recently passed the $1 million mark, but are still open to donations via the official fundraising website (donations are accepted in UK pounds, but credit card companies do automatic conversions).

In Canada, children's authors and illustrators, spearheaded by Robin Stevenson and Sarah Harvey, started a campaign for Doctors Without Borders to assist with the children of refugees. In less than two weeks, they reached their goal of raising $20,000, but they are still taking contributions through October 12. Although they are focusing their outreach on the Canadian children's literature community, they stress that anyone is welcome to donate. For more information, check out their site at canadahelps.org.

In the U.S., author Patrick Rothfuss operates the charity Worldbuilders and has set up a campaign for refugees there. You'll have to hurry on that one, since it's only open to donations through tomorrow. Funds will be distributed to Mercy Corps to provide food, clothing, clean water, medical care, and education for children of refugees.

Also in the UK, Benedict Cumberbatch (of the BBC's Sherlock) recorded the intro for a charity single to raise funds for refugees fleeing Syria and other war zones. The single is available for download now from iTunes, and a 7-inch vinyl version will be released September 28 in the United Kingdom, with a previously unreleased B-side. To contribute, you can purchase and download the single, which is a re-release of the Crowded House tune "Help is Coming."

Comments

[Elgin Bleecker]

Thank you for posting this.

[BV Lawson]

I'm so gratified, Elgin, to see authors pitching in to help out. I hope we'll see more of these efforts.