Every October, for the last 6 years, Hands4Hope and El Dorado Hills Town Center have partnered to host a haunted house. For the second year, Scare4Hope, a youth led production company under the umbrella organization Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference, is planning, implementing, and operating the Hands4Hope Haunted House. The Scare4Hope organizational structure is designed to mimic a functioning production company, with the end product being an incredibly scary and entertaining haunted house.
This year, the theme for Scare4Hope’s Haunted House is "Twisted Fairytale" and it opens in one week. The Haunted House will again be located next to Hop House and Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills Town Center and will be open 6-10pm, Fridays and Saturdays, from October 7-31. Prepare for a night of horror and terror as you are taken on a trip through your favorite fairytales and worst nightmares. Each year, the Haunted House scares an average of 2,200 visitors.
Scare4Hope committees started their planning in May, with true dedication to creating something incredible for the community to enjoy. There are six committees involved: Construction/Engineering, Marketing, Creative, Finance/Legal, Front of House, and Volunteer Coordination. Each committee is led by a youth lead with an adult mentor. In total, there are 30 youth actively involved with 13 adult mentors.
Youth Project Manager Madeline Simko, an Oak Ridge High School Senior, shared, “The Scare4Hope team includes some of the most passionate and hard working people I have met, who are all hard workers, and come up with inventive solutions to challenges we face.” She added, “This has absolutely provided real life experience. I’ve learned how to manage a timeline, keep people motivated, and coordinate with other organizations,"
The youth work closely with their mentors and are challenged often. “It's been a real pleasure watching youth leaders for the Haunted House Project emerge. The Haunted House Project is a terrific opportunity for our youth volunteers to learn and practice a whole variety of skills that will be valuable in school and future jobs,” shared Scare4Hope Tech and Engineering adult mentor, Doug Busch. Busch is a mechanical engineer and retired Chief Operating Officer from Intel-GE Care Innovations LLC.
“The adult mentors all do an amazing job of letting the youth take the lead, helping steer the committees in the right direction, while letting participants gain leadership experience. The Haunted House is a very unique project. It is not very often where youth are given the opportunity to lead a project of this magnitude,” said Simko
Additional Quotes from Our Scare4Hope Team Mentors:
Kimberly Rumph, Scare4Hope’s Creative adult mentor, says, “I'm very happy with the way things are progressing this year! We were thrown for a bit of a loop with our move in time frame, so it's been a little bit more hectic than I think it would've been if we had more time. But, all the teens have rallied and I think it will be a fantastic haunt this year. In addition, more youth are shouldering the responsibility than any other year. I'm super proud of all of them!”
Andrea Howard, Principal Planner at Parker Development Company, and Scare4Hope’s Marketing adult mentor shares, “The youth involved with the Haunted House are so talented and have far more real life experience than I did when I was their age. One thing they all have in common is their ability to unite for a common goal and work in a team environment to achieve that goal. It is comforting to know that our youth are developing leadership qualities that will guide them in their future endeavors and it is exciting to imagine how they will one day become mentors to a whole new generation of leaders.”
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