COONA, Idaho — Have you had a chance to see St. Jude’s Dream Home in Coona in person? Excursions ended at the weekend. 27,777 tickets for the St. Jude Dream Home giveaway sold out in just a few hours in April. We’ll pick a winner on June 4 live on KTVB.
Berkeley Building Company built the house again this year. It’s in Coon, opposite the golf course.
“It’s so peaceful and beautiful here in Coon, in the Valor community, right on the golf course at Falcon Crest,” said Joe Attala, president of Berkeley Construction. “A dream home, it’s always special, three bedrooms, three baths, just over 2,600 square feet, and includes a theater room.”
By: St. Jude’s Dream Home 2023
This is Berkeley’s eleventh year building the St. Jude Dream Home. Atala just can’t believe how big the campaign has become here in Treasure Valley.
“The Dream Home program here in Idaho has just grown and grown. It’s amazing to think back to when we barely sold out the first year we started and how much growth we have now,” Atala said. “Tickets sell out in hours. I feel like our community has really supported St. Jude and the mission.”
Atala said the visit to the hospital in Memphis was life-changing for him and his team.
“Going to the actual St. Jude campus is a transformative experience,” Atala said. “When you go to St. Jude and you can walk through the hallways, it’s not what you think of as a typical hospital space, it’s hopeful. The staff is so wonderful and the way they interact with the patients really speaks to their mission to create hope for the families and children at St. Jude. Cancer is a terrible disease and too many people have been affected by it personally, and when I think of a child suffering from it, it breaks my heart. Being able to give back to St. Jude and fight that means so much to us.”
Building the house each year is truly a labor of love because the house is built free of charge for St. Jude.
“Berkeley Construction is considered St. Jude’s hero zero,” Atala said. “It means we can basically build a house at no cost to the hospital. Therefore, all money raised from ticket sales goes directly to St. Jude for treatment and research. We have an excellent team of suppliers, trade partners and consultants who help us achieve this. They can donate their time and effort as well as materials.”
Being a Zero Hero is something really special. St. Jude’s is very grateful, but so are all the local businesses and people who make this home come alive year after year. Atala says it feels good to be a part of something so big and meaningful.
“This is what we do for a living, to be able to do this and be able to raise so much money for St. Jude’s is just a great feeling.” Atala said.
This year, ticket sales from the House of Dreams campaign raised nearly $2.8 million. All of this money goes directly to St. Jude.
As a reminder, we will announce the winner of the house, along with all the other awesome prizes, on Sunday, June 4th at 6:30pm on KTVB. There are other prizes too! These prizes include a new Ford truck, four club seats to a Boise State football game, and $10K worth of shopping at MOR Furniture for Less! Watch us on June 4th to find out who wins.
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