With hard hats and heart, community builds a home to help kids at St. Jude

In the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, in the town of Queen Creek, people file in through the front door of a new home being built on a prime corner lot. Many wear hard hats and boots, though they aren’t here to work but to celebrate.

This is the first St. Jude Dream Home in the Phoenix metropolitan area, part of a nationwide fundraising campaign to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. Built by Woodside Homes of Arizona and its trade partners, who donated their time, materials, and expertise, it will be raffled off to raise $1 million.

Each person involved has a heartfelt reason for their contribution — a personal “why” that underscores the power of their purpose. All together, they show what a group of people can do when united by a common cause.

“No one contractor can do this, but together, look what can happen,” said Amanda Walker, business development manager at Bobier Sales in Phoenix, the local representative for Brizo, who donated all the plumbing fixtures for the kitchen and baths. “It’s so touching to see how much good there is in the community.”

Construction is complete — and went off without a hitch. Trade partners and work crews stayed on schedule. Even the weather cooperated. 

Three months after breaking ground, the people involved gathered to see the progress and write messages of hope on the concrete floors, a tradition at St. Jude Dream Homes across the country.

These folks, from all walks of life, are doing more than building a two-story, 1900-square-foot house, with three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and a garage. Together, they are doing something to make a difference in the world. Something good. 

Galvanizing the team

Randy Freberg’s family started his business, R/S Service and Supply Inc., in 1974 with two goals: Build a trusted brand — and help others. He’s done both, including supporting St. Jude. 

For more than 12 years Freberg donated to St. Jude anonymously. “I wasn’t looking for a pat on the back,” he said. “I wasn’t looking for a thank you.” But at Thanksgiving dinner in 2020, his son suggested he go public about his support to encourage others to do the same.

“I have a major soft spot in my heart for kids, and what St. Jude does for kids is incredible,” Freberg said. He remembers how he worried when his three kids were young and came down with just the flu. “I cannot imagine being told my child has cancer,” he said.

Freberg reached out to the Phoenix office of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude, asking, “What can I do to help?” He has since sponsored fundraising events and volunteered his time. Last summer, Freberg put in a call to his friend and trade partner Joe Vannelli, Division President of Woodside Homes of Arizona, to see if he would build a St. Jude Dream Home. 

Freberg was sure Vannelli would say yes. The men serve together on the board of a nonprofit that helps people experiencing homelessness. Woodside Homes of Arizona supports a women’s shelter and families struggling financially during a child’s illness. 

Vannelli told Freberg he’d need to think about it and talk to his team. Freberg called back two weeks later —and a week after that. Vannelli, also a dad of three, told Freberg, “I can’t think of anything better.” 

One morning in October, Vannelli and Freberg stood together before about 30 trade partners at Woodside Homes’ offices and asked for their help. “There’s work to be done,” Freberg told them. If enough trade partners joined them, offsetting all building costs, every dollar raised from ticket sales would go to St. Jude. “This is not a have-to,” Freberg said. “This is us asking you.”

Chairs pushed back almost in unison. The trade partners lined up to sign up to help on a whiteboard with a quote from St. Jude founder Danny Thomas printed along the bottom: “Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.”

Building more than a house

Steve Troth was the youngest of five children raised by a single mom after his parents divorced when he was just a toddler. His mom, a bookkeeper, worked hard to provide for her family, and while they didn’t always have everything they needed, they had each other.

When money was short, they’d have to move — and then move again — but there was one constant. “She was always there,” Troth said. His mom made sure that every place they lived felt like home. 

Maybe that’s why Troth, director of sales and marketing for Woodside Homes of Arizona, went into home building. “I’m sure it was influential on how I feel about home ownership,” he said. His upbringing instilled in him a sense of home that’s not only a physical structure but love and togetherness. 

“I don’t think of home ownership as a commodity,” Troth said. “It means something to me to know that we’re designing homes that offer stability and security that will hopefully provide years of enjoyment.”

For Troth, a dad of three and granddad of two, homes are powerful places. He felt that strongly as the St. Jude Dream Home went up, raised by a community that cares. By February, 39 trade partners had signed onto the project, their donations bolstered by five national sponsors to cover 100 percent of the costs. The 10,000 tickets for the May 7 giveaway went on sale for $100 each on Feb. 26, and sold out in 28 hours, raising $1 million for St. Jude.

“It’s not that we have to do this — we are fortunate that we get to do this,” Troth said. 

“If we can help one child through this, if this small endeavor can save the life of a child, or prolong the life of a child, or contribute to finding a cure, there is nothing better you can do with your efforts.”

Contributing windows, doors — and heart

That morning in October when Freberg and Vanelli asked trade partners to help build the St. Jude Dream Home, Julian Petty was the seventh to sign up. An outside sales executive at Avanti Windows & Doors, he needed a moment after meeting local St. Jude patient Bridget and her mom, Jamie.

The room had been silent, save for an occasional sniffle or throat clearing. Bridget was 6 in 2018 when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her right tibia and referred to St. Jude. “We knew it was the best place for a cure — and the best place for hope,” Jamie said. 

Cancer cost Bridget, 13 now, part of her leg — but not her life. “I got that — a life — and it’s a great one,” Bridget said. She’s on the honor roll at school, a fashion model and club volleyball player.

She’s learned that none of us are born brave – it’s a choice — and that being brave doesn’t mean not being scared. It means being scared and doing it anyway. She’s learned to never give up.

Petty choked up. “It touched my heart,” he said. He’s got a daughter, 10, and two sons, 11 and 14. “It’s such a blessing to have three healthy kids,” Petty said. Bridget made him realize he’d taken that for granted. 

“When you get to see Bridget make a statement of how St. Jude helped her, you realize what you are doing is really making a difference,” Petty said. Unlike the fleeting act of dropping $20 in a collection bucket, this felt real.

Petty donated all the windows and patio doors. While he was the one to sign the whiteboard, the gift represented hundreds of employees, from office workers and sales staff to those who manufacture, deliver and install the windows and patio doors.

“It’s great to be part of a company that is fortunate enough to give back,” Petty said. Avanti also has donated to four St. Jude Dream Homes built by Woodside Homes of Nevada since 2020 and has committed to a fifth.

“You don’t do it for credit,” Petty said. “You do it to see people like Bridget have a little bit of comfort when they’re going through hard times.”

The finishing touches

With a red marker, Debbie Nosan wrote on the concrete floor, “May this home bring love, joy and hope to all who enter,” signing it with a heart. 

It was her first time seeing the St. Jude Dream Home, and she got emotional in the freshly painted living room listening to local St. Jude patient Colton and his parents, Kristi and Cal. 

Colton was a sixth grader, newly elected president of student council, when he was referred to St. Jude for cancer treatment. “From the minute we walked in the door at St. Jude, they gave us hope,” his mom said.

Now Colton is almost 15, a runner and Eagle Scout. “Wow, just wow,” Nosan said. She marveled, too, at all the people who helped build this house to support kids like Colton.

Nosan is general manager at Furniture Affair in Phoenix, which sells high-quality, gently used furniture from model homes and designer showrooms. Troth asked Nosan if Furniture Affair could stage the St. Jude Dream Home for weekend open houses April 5 through May 4. “I so wanted to do this,” Nosan said. 

The owners Taylor and Sara Markham immediately said yes. The whole staff at the small business, nine employees in all, were excited, already discussing design ideas. “It feels good to do something to help,” Nosan said. 

They will pick furniture and other décor to make it feel like going home. “We want to make it like a real home — well, with less clutter,” Nosan said with a laugh. “We want to make it feel really warm and cozy so people who see it will want to get involved and support St. Jude.”

Strong foundation for it all 

Javier was 4 when his 9-year-old brother Juan was diagnosed with a brain tumor in Phoenix and referred to St. Jude for treatment. Javier didn’t know then that he’d become a St. Jude patient, too — and he never believed Juan would die. 

His brother had always been there. On Javier’s first day of kindergarten, Juan walked him to class. They played video games and watched cartoons together — but only after Javier had done his homework. Juan always checked. “He wanted me to be successful,” Javier said.

His mom, Amelia, had been told Juan had just months to live. But with treatment at St. Jude, Juan lived for another six years, each day a chance for the family to create more memories. 

Juan died at 15 in 2018. Amelia was broken by his death and always will be. She works at ALSAC in the hope that no other family has to go through it.

Javier tries to be strong, like his brother. Now 16, he thinks about the things Juan never got to do. Get a driver’s license. Graduate from high school. Javier will do those things for them both. “I think that would make him happy,” he said.

Genetic testing at St. Jude revealed Javier has the same hereditary predisposition to cancer as his brother. He is monitored at St. Jude so if any cancer develops, doctors will catch it early. “I know I'd be in great hands,” Javier said. “St. Jude just makes you feel safe.”

Javier is an artist, and when the frame of the St. Jude Dream Home went up, he painted a grassy field dotted with flowers, white clouds overhead, on one of the studs for Juan. “We honor his memory because we all want to be like him, just loving, and caring, no matter what happens,” Javier said.

When everyone gathered for the floor signing, Amelia wrote in blue, “#belikeJuan,” with a heart underneath. Javier added the St. Jude logo in red and then picked up a gold marker to draw a halo and angel wings around his brother’s name.