Phoenix Sports Club Child Cancer Fundraiser
We don't often post things about "saving the day", the sad truth is when another company has "let us down", there's usually a good reason; The customer hasn't measured the area properly and the bouncy castle won't fit, or they selected grass as the surface and the other company refused to set-up because it was actually on concrete and they wouldn't do it on the grounds of safety.
When we get phone calls like this we try to explain that the other company refused this for good reason, it's about safety. The other company are looking out for their customers best interest. There's a lot of good bouncy castle hire companies in the area - As much as we would like to say they're all a bunch of let-downs and you can only trust us, it isn't the truth. Many of the companies are great operators and we actively work with some of them and help eachother.
Us arriving to "save the day" and set-up un-safely on concrete or put an inflatable thats too large for the area and close to a garden fence or the step too close to a garden wall, decking some type of drop or other risk and then saying how the other company had let them down would be extremely poor show.
Sometimes things do happen though, a van breaks down, an inflatable has been damaged and they didn't realise, family emergency and illness are all reasonable explnations and we always try our best to fullfill bookings where this type of thing has occured. We have a pretty large capacity to deliver bouncy castles and we're local to our storage, so sometimes we can help with last minue bookings - Although we never claim to "save the day",if the company has had a sickness or some other real issue, it doesn't feel right to try and punish them for that and look good based off of their missfortune.
However, on this particular occasion we have decided to make an exception. It's not something we have ever done or plan to ever do again, but this hire was just far too important to let down and supporting child cancer charities is something dear to our hearts.
The Phoenix sports club in Bexleyheath was planning a child cancer fundraiser for several months. They're a great bunch of people and hold events like this regulary to raise funds. Child cancer is a particulary sensitive issue to our family and had they of asked us to help from the beginning they would be in very safe hands as we know first hand what an awful situation it can be.
Our own son was diagnose with Acute Lymphoblastic Laeukemia when he had just turned Three years old. After 4 long years of treatment we're pleased to say that these days he is a very healthy young boy that enjoys life; But those 4 years where devastating and we know exactly the type of benefit of fundraising can have for a ward. Living in hospital for months at time with your child perishing before your eyes is a hopeless feeling that we would never wish anyone to experience. Sometimes a little light can be shone by people with a big heart and it makes a very big difference.
We received a phone call explaining that they had booked a company in Charlton to provide them an inflatable for their fundraiser. They had some other activities planned, but there was a gap and the castle was supposed to be used for children unable to participate in some of the things they had planned. They was pretty devastated as the company had offered them the bouncy castle for free and they didn't have much budget to book anyone else - On top of that they company gave them such little notice to find other arrangements that they was desperately phoning round local companies trying to get something booked in, but they was fully booked!
They explained that the company simply text them to let them know they couldn't do the job anymore as they had received a booking for the castle at full payment and they was taking that instead.
Not everyone is in a position to give to charity - We ourselves are asked almost twice a week to help and the sad truth is we would go out of business if we said yes to everyone. However, it's a shame this company decided to take the job and offer their services, only to then rescind it so close to the event and do so via text.
When they explained the situation we knew right away that we wanted to help. Fortunately we are local to Bexleyheath and our storage isn't far away, so we told them to stop phoning other people and reassured them that we would be able to fullfill the booking for them at zero cost.
We doubled the order and provided two bouncy castles for them. It's a sports club and they have a big football pitch so we thought a foorball themed castle might go nicely. When we arrived they was very grateful, but in truth their thanks wasn't needed. Child Cancer is a subject so close to our hearts that we find ourselves unable to ever say no to anyone willing to help that cause.
The feedback after the event was great, they didn't have an exact total raised but shared with us that they raised in profit over £5,000 for the charity and it was going directly to families. For us, it was all the reward we needed to hear, to be a part of that and helping support that achievement was very special.
If anyone local ever needs our help for a child cancer charity and require a bouncy castle, we will always do our best to support you free of charge and if we accept the booking then you can be sure we wont "let you down" because someone has given us a better offer.
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