Win a home while helping Make-A-Wish
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Want the chance to win a new home while helping children in need?
An initiative by the Home Builders Association's Charitable and Education Foundation (HBACEF) in partnership with Make-A-Wish has now come to central Ohio.
Tuesday marked the groundbreaking for the prize in the Home for the Holidays raffle, to raise money and help children through different programs.
Home Builders Association Executive Director Brenda Callaghan notes the organization wants to continue its mission of helping children with critical illnesses and providing educational opportunities for students entering the construction industry all by giving people the chance to win a new home.
“We are so excited to be here today because we have been producing A Home for the Holidays in Cleveland the last five years, and now we are coming into the Columbus area,” Callaghan said.
HBACEF and Make-A-Wish have raised more than $1 million over the past five years through this program. All the funds go to a pre-apprentice training program for students and toward providing wishes for children.
Katie Ferrell with Make-A-Wish explained that just by entering the raffle, people will be changing a life in different ways.
“Imagine you're a kid, it's so hard, it's so hard,” Ferrell said. “Not for the child, but for their siblings and for their parents. They don't get to do what their friends are doing. No sleepovers. Most of the time they're told, ‘You can't do this,’ no sports. You can feel good knowing that money is going to directly impact children in our community. There are hundreds of kids in central Ohio right now waiting for their wish to come true.”
Tickets for the raffle are $100 and participants have the chance of winning a home valued at more than $800,000 by Christmas of this year or they can take the cash prize.
Organizers of the event noted how meaningful it has been for people who have won over the past few years.
“They have such heartwarming stories,” Callaghan said. “The woman that won this last year, she was an elderly woman, and she had a lot of medical bills. She took the cash prize of $300,000,” Callaghan said. “She was so grateful, so again, every story, there isn't a there isn't a bad thing to this whole event.”
Tickets for the raffle go on sale July 1 and the goal is to sell 15,000 tickets. For more information click here.