St. Jude Dream Home tickets sell out early
EDMOND — The coronavirus cloud over the St. Jude Dream Home had a silver lining.
Despite the house never being open to the public, the fundraiser was a sellout. All of the 8,000 raffle tickets that were available at $100 each were sold by Aug. 3. The drawing will be at 9 a.m. Thursday on Fox 25. Ticket sales are limited to establish the odds of winning the house and other prizes.
“This was the earliest the campaign has sold out and the most we've ever raised with the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway in Oklahoma City!” said Shannon Nadolni, spokeswoman for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. Actor Danny Thomas started the charity organization in 1957 to raise money and awareness for the hospital, which he opened in 1962.
The sellout means the project raised $800,000 for the hospital, which works to end childhood cancer and treats children regardless of ability to pay. The survival rate for kids with cancer, 20% when the hospital opened, is 80% now, St. Jude says.
St. Jude says all proceeds go to the hospital, which opened as the first fully integrated hospital in the South: “More than just a treatment facility, this would be a research center for the children of the world, regardless of race, religion or financial status,” St. Jude says on its website, https://www.stjude.org/.
Shaw Homes, based in Broken Arrow, stepped in to build this year's Oklahoma City Dream Home when the chosen builder backed out at the last minute. Shaw did so out of goodness, and then, because of the coronavirus, was unable to reap the benefit of having people come through and see its work.
The home, 2,500 square feet, three bedrooms, three baths at 8616 Maple Creek Road in Edmond, is valued at $365,000. It is in Woodland Park addition east of Douglas Boulevard, north of Covell Road.
When the chance came to build the home, “Our response was `yes,' before they even told us the details,” said Aaron Antis, vice president of sales for Shaw Homes.
It was a big disappointment not to have the personal,
one-on-one encounters with people that come with daily public tours of the Dream Home, Antis said. But, he said Glenn Shaw, who founded Shaw Homes in 1985, and others believe that it and the hospital will be blessed for their efforts.
“Our trust is in God. When you sow, you always reap,” Antis said.
Amen.
In addition to the St. Jude Dream Home, Shaw Homes has a model home in the Woodland Park addition, at 3303 Birchwood Creek Circle.
Shaw Homes also builds in Fox Lair Estates, northwest of Waterloo Road and N Pennsylvania Avenue; Ridge Creek, west of Douglas Boulevard and north of Coffee Creek Road; Rush Brook, southeast of NW 192 and Western Avenue; Pinnacle, south of SW 29 between Sara and Mustang roads; Twin Silos, northwest of NW 150 and Council Road; and Timber Ridge, north of Memorial Road between Cemetery and Frisco roads.
Other local sponsors of the St. Jude Dream Home are The Oklahoman, Fox 25, 101.9 The Twister, 405 Magazine, Edmond Life & Leisure, Perry Publishing & Broadcasting, Homeland, Epsilon Sigma Alpha and El Latino American. National sponsors are Brizo, Shaw Floors, Trane and Bosch.