The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is a life-changer. With a $100 ticket, someone will win a newly constructed 2,350-square-foot home located at 8616 Maple Creek Road in Edmond. The farmhouse-style home in the coveted Woodland Park community is valued at $365,000. However, the real winners aren’t the new homeowners; they’re the children fighting for their lives, backed by an army of support through St. Jude Children’s Research Center.
“It’s the best place you never want to be,” says Edmond resident Holly Robertson, whose five-year-old son Graham survived a rare form of leukemia through the medical expertise of St. Jude. “Graham was diagnosed at 16 months. Within 48 hours, we were on a plane to Memphis. The St. Jude team wasted no time to come up with a plan, consulting with doctors all over the world. It was a huge blessing.”
In addition to providing life-saving treatments, St. Jude covered all of the Robertsons’ travel, lodging and meals. “We never received a single bill from St. Jude,” Robertson says.
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Shaw Homes has donated its time and materials to build this year’s three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, which features hickory floors, a two-sided fireplace and 11-foot ceilings in the great room, kitchen and master bedroom. The home’s location is prime, too. Woodland Park sits at Covell Road and Douglas Boulevard, a few miles east of I-35, and encompasses a clubhouse, two pools, a fitness center, a basketball court and several playgrounds.
Shaw Homes Designer Johnna Kosechata selected contemporary patterns and a black-and-white color scheme to create a modern feel and versatile backdrop for either bright colors or soft neutrals – whatever the new homeowner prefers.
“The modern farmhouse style gives a sense of warmth to the place,” Kosechata says. “It’s comfortable, but it’s elegant.”
Thanks to national partnerships, Kosechata had her choice of Bosch kitchen appliances, Brizo faucets and hardware, Sherwin-Williams paints and Shaw Floors tile, hardwood and carpet. Among other top-of-the-line selections, the team installed a $3,000 built-in coffee maker by Bosch.
“There wasn’t a limit,” Kosechata says. “I got to pick the best of the best.”
A local showroom helped her procure donated light fixtures from Park Harbor and Millennium Lighting. Many talented individuals, vendors and sponsors collaborated to make this Oklahoma City-area Dream Home a reality.
“The goal is to build the house at zero cost, so every dollar raised goes back to fighting childhood cancer,” says Taylor Lingle, regional fundraising manager for St. Jude. Lingle knows firsthand about the St. Jude experience. Her family became a St. Jude family after her sister Kelsey was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of four.
“These treatments are millions of dollars, but my family didn’t have to worry about it because St. Jude took on that burden. St. Jude truly just wants families to focus on helping their child get better.”
The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is poised to sell 8,000 tickets — and tickets usually sell out. For more information, visit dreamhome.org.
