Prairieville house to benefit children’s hospital

PRAIRIEVILLE – Tickets for the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway are on sale now.

The drawing will be for a new four-bedroom, three-bath home located in Acadiana of Ascension subdivision at 13275 Rue Maision Blvd., Prairieville.

The house is valued at $450,000 and is 3,972 square feet.

Built by Alvarez Construction and donated by Billwood Smith Real Estate, the house features stainless-steel appliances, wood floors, cypress cabinets and bronze light fixtures.

Tickets are $100 each and can be bought by calling 800-726-6409.

Anyone who buys a ticket is now eligible for an early bird drawing.

Aside from the Dream Home, the ticket also is eligible to win a 50-inch plasma television from Best Buy.

The St. Jude Telethon will be televised Sunday, Nov. 1 on WAFB.

The giveaway was created in 1991 by Dr. Donald Mack, a pediatric physician from Shreveport.

Mack relied on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to treat many of his young patients. He was the first doctor to send an out-of-state patient to the hospital.

The first Dream Home was built in Shreveport, and $160,000 was raised for St. Jude.

Since the first giveaway, the event has become an annual fundraiser. More than $19 million has been collected for the hospital.

The giveaway is now one of the largest single-event fundraisers for St. Jude nationwide. It has raised more than $155 million for St. Jude.

The program is active in more than 40 areas and is expanding throughout the country.

More than 30 homes will be given away.

As of last year, there have been 200 Dream Home winners. Each giveaway includes about 15-20 other donated prizes valued at $1,000 or more.

Prizes often include automobiles, furniture, jewelry and shopping sprees.

The staff at St. Jude works to find cures for children with cancer and other diseases.

The hospital has treated children from all 50 states and other countries throughout the world.

Country music star Sara Evans serves as the national spokesperson for the 2009-10 Dream Home giveaway.

“Every day cancer threatens the lives of kids across the country,” she said. “As a mother, I’m thankful to have healthy children, but some kids aren’t so fortunate. Parents find hope at St. Jude.”

For more information, see www.stjude.org.