Moorpark Presbyterian to Screen 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I'

A group of kids from Moorpark Presbyterian Church is planning a trip to the San Francisco Bay Area to help the less fortunate, but getting there is costly, so they’re calling on a little help from Harry Potter.

No, they’re not hoping to hitch a ride on the Hogwarts Express or borrow a Nimbus 2000 to fly to the Bay; They’re screening Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I at 7 p.m. Wednesday at , formally the Moorpark Athletic Center or MAC, and selling tickets to raise money.

Though MAC is under new management and undergoing renovations, the theaters are still intact and owner Luis Herms has agreed to allow the church to screen the movie there.

The church will be taking 26 youngsters and six adults on its trip to the Bay Area through a program provided by the Center for Student Missions. While there, the group will work with a number of community organizations—including the Salvation Army, Project Open Hand and the San Francisco and Alameda County food banks—to help feed the hungry and care for the less fortunate.

Group members will also get a chance to explore San Francisco a little and dine at various ethnic restaurants.

“It’s like a cultural experience as well, but it’s also a real mission trip. Basically these kids are going to be working with hungry, homeless people, just loving them, feeding them and serving them,” said Em Blattner, youth minister.

“I think it’s an awesome thing to take these kids from Moorpark, especially, where they’re not exposed to this kind of poverty, and broaden their world view,” said Blattner.

Church elder Lynda Rummelhoff, who’s been involved with the youth group for about 20 years, pointed out the appropriateness of screening Harry Potter, not just because of the timing—part two of Deathly Hallows comes out Friday—but because Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, herself, was a struggling single mother receiving public assistance during her final year of writing Harry Potter and the Socerer’s Stone, the first book in the series.

“Now we’ll be using money raised from her movie to help the homeless,” she said.

All the money raised from the $10 per person tickets will go toward the trip. Tickets are available by e-mailing Blattner at em@mppres.org or Rummelhoff at lynda@mppres.org. The show begins at 7 p.m. MAC is located at 543 W. Los Angeles Ave.