Hospital will build $275,000 house as raffle prize

Right now, it's just a partially finished concrete foundation with a few stacks of lumber and mounds of snow-covered dirt nearby.

By next May, it will be a 2,400-square-foot, two-story house with a sprawling front yard and a spectacular view of a large pond, potentially raising $500,000 for research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

For the past 13 years, St. Jude has enlisted the help of contractors, developers and other businesses to hold Dream Home raffles at various locations across the country as a means of raising money for research at the hospital.

The site at 146 Super Bowl Drive in Touchdown Estates near Jackson will be the first St. Jude Dream Home in Missouri.

According to project chairwoman Martha Hamilton with Coldwell Banker Hamilton Realty, the majority of the materials and labor for the project have been donated by local building suppliers. Ryland "Dutch" Meyr, developer of the Touchdown Estates subdivision, donated the lot on which the new home will be built. Dornoch Construction Inc. in Cape Girardeau is the contractor for the project.

"Being the father of two children, how could you not want to participate in something like this? It was an easy decision," said Mark McDowell with Dornoch Construction.

McDowell said the house, which is valued at $275,000, will have a two-car garage, two and a half bathrooms and a walkout basement.

Hamilton, Meyr and McDowell were at the site Wednesday for a ground breaking with St. Jude's associate director Brian Doyle.

According to Doyle, tickets will go on sale Feb. 27 and will be available at area Union Planters Banks. They can be purchased in person, through the mail and by telephone.

Six thousand tickets will be available at $100 each. There will be 11 other prizes, valued at $1,000 or more, given away in conjunction with the Dream Home raffle drawing June 22.

"We have not determined what the alternative prizes will be just yet. But they're going to be something people can use, and they're going to fabulous," Hamilton said.

According to Doyle, hospital officials chose Cape Girardeau County as the location for its first Missouri house project because of the proximity to the hospital, the number of patients in this area and the amount of financial support it receives here.

McDowell said they are hoping to find donations of appliances and furniture and still searching for a plumbing contractor.

Donations are tax deductible. For more information, contact Hamilton at 334-1818.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded in 1962 to provide research and treatment free of charge to children with cancer and other serious illnesses.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128