St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital broke ground Monday on its 2027 Memphis Dream Home in Collierville, bringing the giveaway back to the town for the first time in 16 years. Dozens of supporters gathered at The Grove at Clara’s Ridge to watch construction begin on what will be Southern Serenity Homes’ 20th Dream Home build, a milestone for a campaign that has become a fixture of Mid-South philanthropy.
The groundbreaking, held Monday, drew local officials, builders and St. Jude supporters to the Collierville site, according to Action News 5. The station reported that the campaign’s return to Collierville ends a 16-year absence from the town, a detail that gave Monday’s ceremony an extra layer of significance for longtime residents who remember earlier Dream Home builds there.
For Collierville Mayor Maureen Fraser, the moment carried personal weight. She told the station that she lost a brother to childhood cancer, a disease she said would likely be curable today. Fraser said her parents, despite having limited means, consistently sent whatever money they could spare to St. Jude. She also said people across Collierville and the greater Memphis area may take the hospital’s presence for granted until the day they actually need it.
A Builder With Two Decades of History on the Line
Greg Bridgers, who works for Southern Serenity Homes, said Mid-South residents have shown strong support for St. Jude over the years by buying raffle tickets for the annual giveaway. He went further Monday, predicting that Collierville could sell out the 2027 campaign’s tickets within a couple of days once sales open — though he framed it as a possibility rather than a guarantee, telling the outlet, “we might sell out in a couple of days this time.”
That optimism is rooted in results. Southern Serenity Homes says on its website that it has raised more than $20.4 million for St. Jude’s children over the life of its partnership with the hospital, and the builder notes it has earned the St. Jude National Dream Home Builder of the Year award two years running, according to Southern Serenity Homes. Those numbers help explain why Monday’s groundbreaking felt less like a routine construction kickoff and more like the launch of the builder’s 20th chapter in the campaign.
What Tickets Fund, and When They Go on Sale
Tickets for the 2027 St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway are scheduled to go on sale in March 2027, the station reported. St. Jude’s own Memphis Dream Home page confirms the 2027 house will rise in Collierville, Tennessee, and explains the stakes behind every ticket sold: each $100 entry helps ensure that families treated at the hospital never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food, according to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The hospital’s page also notes that the raffle is conducted by and benefits ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and is authorized by the State of Tennessee Division of Charitable Solicitations, Fantasy Sports and Gaming.
This year’s Memphis-area giveaway set a strong bar for the new campaign to clear. The 2026 Dream Home Giveaway sold out and raised $2,150,000 for the hospital, with Germantown resident Judy Akin winning a $675,000 home in Arlington, Tennessee, built by Southern Serenity Homes. That house featured three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a three-car garage and an outdoor kitchen, the station reported at the time.
Part of a Wider Regional Push
Collierville’s groundbreaking is not the only 2027 Dream Home project underway. A separate house broke ground in September at Florence Gardens in Gulfport, Mississippi, during a “Bricks and Sticks” event, with organizers there aiming to raise $1 million for St. Jude this year, according to WLOX. That home is planned at roughly 1,900 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, marking the fifth consecutive year a Dream Home has been built at Florence Gardens. The station noted it has participated in the Dream Home program for 21 years and has raised about $14.8 million over that span.
Back in Collierville, the work ahead is now underway at The Grove at Clara’s Ridge, with the house itself still months from completion and ticket sales still months away. For Fraser and the supporters who turned out Monday, the groundbreaking marked less an ending than a beginning — the first steps toward a home, and a fundraising push, that Bridgers believes Mid-South donors are ready to embrace quickly once the doors open in March.
