A woman created a GoFundMe campaign on Nov. 28 to buy her niece a copy of a Harry Potter Braille version, which cost around $240 each book. After a month, she shared a video in Instagram as she gave her the books as Christmas present. Her reactions are heart-melting.
Aside from getting her niece a complete set of the braille version of the series, the GoFundMe campaign creator Kately Suter has also donated five full Harry Potter Braille books to schools and libraries. The campaign only lasted about two days as the target amount was already achieved.
Finding Harry Potter Braille Books
Seven-year-old Emrie is completely visually-impaired as she was born with a very rare gene anomaly. Her father has been reading the Harry Potter series to her, but while they were on "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," she wanted to read the book herself.
"Emrie really enjoys reading herself and wanted to read books that she could read in Braille," said Suter who found it difficult to locate the J.K. Rowling best-selling series. A local news outlet KSHB reported that the scarcity of the novels made her really upset and sad.
Aside from that, she also learned that each book costs between $80 and $300. As there are seven books included in the series, Suter created a GoFundMe campaign to raise enough funds to purchase the braille books for Emrie. She noted that everyone deserves to be able to have access to all books regardless of the size or cost to print them.
"I reached out to people to try to find these books," Suter said, according to KSHB. She added that every library she contacted does not have the books available for rent or sale. While the novels are available in audiobook form, it is highly expensive to print them out in braille. "I understand that, but it just broke my heart," she added.
The Magic of Reading Braille GoFundMe Campaign
Suter started the GoFundMe campaign entitled "The Magic of Reading Braille." She only wanted to raise enough money to buy Emrie a copy of the series in braille form as well as donate another for a library or school.
However, with an outpouring support from the public, Suter posted an update on Nov. 30 that the campaign has already raised enough funds within 24 hours, not just for a couple of Harry Potter series, but five sets. This means she will be able to gift Emrie with the novels as well as donate the other four sets to Kansas City schools and libraries.
Meanwhile, Suter is grateful of the outpour of love and support for her and Emrie, but she is more thankful for being able to raise awareness on Braille books, their cost, and accessibility.
The Magic of receiving Harry Potter Braille Books
A month after starting the GoFundMe campaign, Suter already have her Christmas present to Emrie. In an Instagram video, Suter shared Emrie's reactions after receiving her books.
A visually-impaired Emrie appears on the video trying to open the gift box as she sat in front of Christmas tree. In the caption, Suter thanked everyone who donated in the campaign and made Christmas extra special for Emrie. "As you can see she is beyond excited to be able to read the Harry Potter books herself," she wrote in the caption.
The video was already viewed more than 38,000 and 525 comments from people who were touched by the Emrie's gleeful reactions.
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Written by CJ Robles
