The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway was created in 1991 by Dr. Donald Mack, a pediatric physician from Shreveport, Louisiana. Dr. Mack is a member of the ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Board of Directors and Governors, who has relied on St. Jude to treat many of his young patients with catastrophic diseases. The first St. Jude Dream Home was constructed in Shreveport and raised $160,000 for St. Jude. 

 

Today, the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is the largest single-event fund raiser for St. Jude nationwide, and has raised more than $148 million for St. Jude. This year the program includes 30 giveaways, and will continue to grow.

How the Giveaway Works

The first step in developing a St. Jude Dream Home is to establish a volunteer committee that is made up of St. Jude board members, real estate developers, media representatives, builders, homeowner association members, interior designers and St. Jude staff. Sub-committees are then created that handle the construction and design of the house, prizes for the raffle, media/telethon sponsors, ticket distribution and volunteers.

Once the committees are in place, a location is selected for the St. Jude Dream Home. A Bricks and Sticks, Behind the Dream dinner is held to introduce the program to the builder’s suppliers, vendors and subcontractors and ask for their support. Construction then begins with a groundbreaking ceremony and for the next 4-6 months a house is built that is valued between $300,000 - $700,000. An average St. Jude Dream Home ranges from 2,300 to 3,000 square feet of living area with four bedrooms and two and one-half bath to three baths.

Builders for the St. Jude Dream Home program utilize their own connections with suppliers, vendors and subcontractors to have our homes built for the lowest possible cost, enabling more funds to go straight to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In exchange for media and community-wide exposure, the St. Jude Dream Home builder agrees to forego his overhead and profit. The St. Jude Dream Home builder is reimbursed for fees associated directly with the construction of the home.