Wish Home Raffle to Award $800K Mascoutah House or $300,000
The Make-A-Wish house at 819 Daniel Dr. in Mascoutah
Mascoutah — A major regional fundraising raffle will award a newly built home in Mascoutah or a $300,000 cash prize this spring, with proceeds supporting children facing critical illnesses across Illinois, Missouri and Kansas.
The 2026 Wish Home Raffle benefits Make-A-Wish Illinois, Make-A-Wish Missouri & Kansas and the Home Builders and Remodelers Charitable and Educational Foundation.
The City of Mascoutah waived all municipal construction fees for the project, a move organizers said allows more of the raffle proceeds to directly benefit families served by Make-A-Wish.
Beyond financial contributions, the home is being built through a large-scale community effort driven by local trade unions and contractors. Labor is being provided at no cost, with apprentices playing a major role in the construction process.
Richard Fuess, training coordinator for Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 101, said his apprentices have been on site completing key portions of the work.
“We’ve got our apprenticeship class out here all week, and we’re doing all the plumbing and gas piping,” Fuess said. “The carpenters, the electricians, the sheet metal workers are all partnering together to help build it, and the materials are being donated by local contractors.”
Fuess said the project is organized in partnership with the Home Builders Association of the Metro East, which brings together contractors from across multiple trades.
“It’s local contractors, building contractors, roofing contractors, electrical contractors,” he said. “They all partnered together to do this house, which is basically a Make-A-Wish home, and all the proceeds are going to Make-A-Wish.”
He added that apprentices are doing much of the hands-on work under instructor supervision, giving them valuable field experience while contributing to a charitable cause.
“It’s a win-win,” Fuess said. “It gets them out of the classroom and gives them real-life, hands-on experience, and they get to give back to the community at the same time.”
Tickets are $100 each. A minimum of 13,000 tickets must be sold for the newly constructed home at 819 Daniel Drive to be awarded as the grand prize. If that threshold is met, the winner may choose between the home or a $300,000 cash prize. If fewer tickets are sold, the prize will be a reduced cash amount based on total sales.
The union-built home includes five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a three-car garage and a finished walk-out basement. Features include brick and masonry construction, luxury vinyl plank flooring, quartz countertops and custom cabinetry.
Organizers said the project highlights what can be accomplished when local government, labor and private industry work together for a shared cause.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.hbrmea.org/wish-home-raffle or www.wish.org/illinois, or contact the Home Builders Association of the Metro East at 618-343-6331.
I don’t think this house will get raffled off because of ticket sales. They need to sell a minimum of 13,000 tickets and tickets have been on sale since December. As of April 27, only 2,170 tickets have been sold, with only 2 months left to sell them. I think with our extreme property taxes there aren’t many people willing to pay the property taxes of a home that’s supposedly close to 1 million dollars in value.