Hype-O Entertainment in Castle Hill have always loved entertaining tribes through kids discos. But something close to home has seen this fantastic business take on a new passion – raising awareness and funds for a worthy children’s charity.
Tell us about your business Hype-O Entertainment
Hype-O Entertainment started in January 2017 as a children’s disco entertainment company. In May 2017 we introduced our toddler dance program closely followed by our first school holiday program in Castle Hill, NSW. Since opening we have now expanded greatly and offer an array of options including discos, pamper discos, festival food discos and In it 2 Win it parties (inspired by the awesome game show minute to win it).
Our brand new performing arts academy opens next week in Riverstone. We have national champions and teachers with over 20 years experience in their styles teaching some awesome styles of dance but the ones we are most excited about would absolutely have to be Salsa and Rock & Roll. These styles are extremely hard to come across for children and they are styles our teachers are very passionate about.
Hype-O Entertainment is passionate about supporting charities for children. What are you currently supporting and how is that going?
Even though Hype-O now offers a huge range of services, the one we are most proud of has to be our “Charity Musical Program (CMP)”. CMP is a program where at the start of the year the children vote on a childrens based charity they would like to fundraise for that year. Then our staff get to work with the help of other amazing businesses and write an original musical script with a storyline based on that charity.
This year the children voted for “The Kids Cancer Project”. Throughout the year the Children will rehearse this original production to perform at the end of the year. The children also spend the year collectively producing fundraising strategies and events to raise both awareness and money for their chosen charity. All money raised through these fundraisers and from their production goes straight to their chosen charity. The program is full of beautiful, kind hearted every day children and I have to say is my greatest achievement so far. As the year progresses the realness of the cause really becomes a reality to the children and the eagerness they build to want to help is incredible to watch. It is absolutely the most gratifying thing I have ever been a part of.
How much have you raised so far and how much would you like to raise this year?
We originally had a goal of $6000 by December first. We are currently in July and have raised $5500 so we expect to exceed that rather soon. We are now working towards a goal of $8000 by December 1st 2018.
Why are the funds important to The Kids Cancer Project? What are they able to do with the money raised?
Every day 3 families hear the words “your child has cancer”. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death in children by disease. The Kids’ Cancer Project is an independent charity committed to funding leading science to find better treatments and ultimately a cure for childhood cancer. They are also very passionate about improving the emotional and physical well being of current patients. That’s a cause to get behind!
How can people support The Kids Cancer Project?
Enrol your child into CMP, organise your own fundraiser by getting in touch with the charity directly or make a direct donation to the charity vua their website.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
People often ask me why I invest so much time to a section of my business that isn’t profitable to me. What they don’t know is that 4 years ago my beautiful second born daughter ‘Indie’ who at the time was 8 months old suddenly fell unconscious. We thought it was some freak one off incident and both the doctors and myself brushed it off as a breath holding spell. Six months later at age 14 months Indie had another identical episode. From there on they began to occur more and more frequently.
Up until age 4 Indie spent a lot of time in the hospital as we were fighting and searching for a diagnosis. As a mother your mind starts to wander and you start to think of all the possibilities. In December 2017, we finally got a part diagnosis! We found out she has two conditions, one that still today still remains a mystery and one that finally has a name… “Reflex Anoxic Seizures”. This is where the nervous system essentially glitches and she falls unconscious. Her heart stops momentarily and then restarts and she slowly wakes up. This is not a directly life threatening disease, however some children do require pacemakers if symptoms continue to progress or become more frequent. We were so relieved by this news. However, in our time in hospital, when you stay their for long periods, you begin to make “bed buddies”.
We made so many amazing friendships, my daughter and I. Friendships that got us through the hard times with people who understood your struggle and fears. Unfortunately not all of our bed buddies got to take their babies home. Not all of them were as lucky as we were! This is where the drive for CMP started. This is where we decided we didn’t want to sit on our hands and just let these kids become a statistic. There are a million charities for children out there, every single one of them is worthy of community support. I urge you to stand up and get active. You are just one person, but you have the power to positively impact thousands of people! And that’s a power we should not take advantage of.
