Castle Hill Rotary Club's community services director Mike Blair said the club was thrilled that the Rouse Hill Town Centre had come on board.

The event, which has been running for 16 years, has always been heavily supported by the Dural Country Club and will continue to have the club's support.

But Mr Blair said with the town centre's larger venue, so much more could be achieved.

``The Rouse Hill Town Centre's involvement as a local, prominent and principal sponsor gives us an opportunity to expand the event and to get the community more involved,'' Mr Blair said.

``They will help us continue with Rotary's mission of serving the community and helping those in need.''

Mr Blair said he was happy that the charity of choice is the Hear the Children Early Intervention Centre at Kellyville, which helps deaf babies and children to hear and speak using cochlear implants and hearing aids. The service needs $210,000 raised a year to remain open.

``When I heard that the service had closed down at St Gabriels and these mothers had to go out on their own and fight to continue the service, I knew they needed all the help they could get,'' Mr Blair said.

Hear The Children co-founder Yvonne Keane said the group was very grateful to be chosen as the event's charity. ``Tour de Hills has been a generous support to the Hear the Children service for many years, and we are incredibly grateful to the wonderful teams behind the event the Hills News, Rouse Hills Stanhope Garden News, Rotary Castle Hill and Rouse Hill Town Centre for choosing to continue supporting Hear the Children in 2011,'' she said.

``This extraordinary donation will make a considerable difference to our ability to teach the hearing impaired babies and children at Hear the Children to listen and speak, and develop language on par with Hearing Children. ``We are incredibly excited that Rouse Hill Town Centre have embraced the Tour de Hills and are thrilled to be a part of this wonderful annual community event.

``In this age where fundraising is more difficult than ever before, and demand for the Hear the Children service is growing, an enormous contribution such as this, is all the more significant.''

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