Tennessee Voices

This spring marks the fourth year that our region has hosted a St. Jude Dream Home. For those not familiar with the Dream Home, it is an annual, national campaign conducted by the St. Jude Children's' Research Hospital in which a home is raffled away for the cost of a $100 ticket. It is a very successful initiative for the hospital and a rewarding charitable experience for companies such as mine.

But what people may not know is that in four short years, Middle Tennessee has rocketed to the top of the fund-raising ladder and established itself as the leading Dream Home campaign in the United States. That's four years and we are No. 1. Everyone take a bow; you deserve it. 

But let's not get too comfortable. This year, we have targeted the sale of 16,000 tickets. That is $1.6 million that will be generated for St. Jude so that they may continue their mission to ensure that no child should die in the dawn of life. I cannot think of a more noble mission. And if you have never been to St. Jude to witness the power of helping people in need, plan a trip to Memphis. Where you think you might find despair, sorrow and emotional collapse, you will find hope, smiles and courage — rolling through brightly painted corridors in little red wagons. It's an experience that will make you squeeze the breath out of someone you love when you get back.

This campaign is about doing something good. It's about looking cancer and other horrible diseases in the eye and staring them down. It's about sacrifice and the enlightenment that accompanies helping someone that you may never even know.

If you have not yet purchased your Dream Home ticket, I am asking you to do so now. If you cannot afford the $100 ticket, find another way to get involved. There are lots of opportunities to engage St. Jude.

There are cities around this country that want to see their own names in the No. 1 spot. While Dream Home is a healthy competition with all the proceeds benefiting St. Jude, there is something selfish in me that wants our community to always been known as the campaign that gave the most.

To purchase your ticket, visit www.stjudedreamhome.org or call 1-800-746-6713.

Jim Cheney is vice president of communications at Southern Land Company in Franklin.