It was a night that saw people hypnotized, amused, generous, and surprised.

The Swift Current Comprehensive High School’s Business Club hosted a Hypnotist Show to raise money for a charity that helps bring water to villages in Uganda on Wednesday night.

The hypnotizing and amusing part of the show came from the main entertainment, hypnotist Dr. Chaos (who is the program director for Golden West Radio in Swift Current as Glenn Charles). The surprise portion of the show came after the business club announced that they had raised a total of $957 to go towards the charity WATERisLIFE. That total was then doubled by Shaun Hanna and Derek Sandercock of the Nightjar Diner Company.

Eljay Dunga, a Grade 12 student at the SCCHS and one of the organizers of the event, said when the announcement was made, it was an overwhelming experience.

"We didn't expect to raise that much money in the first place since we were kind of worried about attendance and getting people to come out," she said. "We were able to raise $957 after weeks of effort and all of a sudden, Nightjar was like we are doubling that, so it just made everything twice as rewarding."

Sarah Cronan, another Grade 12 student at the SCCHS, is another one of the organizers of the event and said that she felt like outing was something needed in the community.

"It was just a real community event, I think our school and community needed, and just the atmosphere of it, just because hypnotist shows need audience engagements and it's just a fun night for everyone."

Dunga said that it's satisfying to know that the money raised will directly help people.

"A lot of people my age are like 'I want to change the world, I want to help people, but I don't have the resources to do so.' The fact that we were able to host a hypnotist show which wasn't that big of a scale, but it essentially changed the lives of the people in that community which allows to give them an education and other things I think that was really satisfying," she said. "We are in Grade 12, we don't have as many resources but we pulled our energy together and put up this event."

"We have so much opportunity and just being able to give the opportunity to those people in Uganda, means a lot," added Cronan.

Hanna said that they decided to help out the business club as it fits in with what Nightjar was already doing.

"We were really excited to hear about the business club taking on a water project," he said. "This year they have been really focusing on social responsibility and that really follows right along with the sort of values that we have as a restaurant. To look towards our community and say 'What can we do to help out?' We were thrilled to hear that they were taking on kind of an international project. It was really nice to see that."

The Nightjar restaurant features a 'high-end' filtration system for water to give its customers 'the best water possible.' Customers pay $1 for the unlimited water with all the money from the water going towards a water charity. The money raised was supposed to go towards Water First, but Hanna said after hearing what the business club was doing, it was a no-brainer to put the money towards the business club.

"When we heard that Cindy Lowe and her business club were tackling a water project now, we thought we have to jump on board with this and support them in any way we can," he said. "During their show they were able to raise nearly $1,000 and we thought that's great. That buys maybe a well in Uganda, but let's double it and then they can build two. That kind of impact I think is amazing and it's really kudos to the students who organized it and really inspired us."

Hanna said it was amazing to see the reaction of the students who had worked so hard to raise the money.

"We really quite enjoyed crashing the show, and donating it," he added. "I think they had the expectation that they would try really hard right at the end to raise some money, and it just felt so good to swoop in and just make that dream happen for them and show them what their small impact actually looks like. It inspires others to do good and I think that sort of reinforcement was a real feel-good moment, and I noticed a couple of tears on stage which I thought was pretty amazing."

Hanna said it’s always wonderful to be able to donate to any good cause and charity and feels it's part of being a responsible citizen and business owner.

“I think for us we look at the students and they are recognizing that they want to build a certain kind of community, one that is kind, lifts the tide for other people,” he said. “For us that really falls in line for with what we want to do. What kind of community we want to build, so it's going to Uganda and it's going to make an impact for potentially hundreds of people getting clean water and for us locally it's great to reinforce and to be able to give up your privilege and help others and raise the tide for all ships, and for us that's what makes it worth it."

The close-to-$2,000 raised will refurbish and repair exciting boreholes that have broken down. The money will cover part replacement, labour, and costs associated with the vegetal path planting of one to two boreholes.