De Young Properties Attends 2024 St. Jude Dream Home® Builder Summit in Memphis, Tennessee

De Young Properties team members recently traveled to Memphis, Tennessee for the 2024 St. Jude Dream Home® Builder Summit awards!

Team member, John Limpus and trade partners, Matt James and Santiago Rendon of Westech Systems LLC attended the 2024 summit at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to learn of the research hospital’s newest research to find cures and save lives.

During their visit, John, Matt and Santiago had the opportunity to tour the research facility. The almost 66-acre campus consists of multiple buildings and research centers and has 77 beds for patients requiring hospitalization during treatment. St. Jude is currently building additional, brand new 10 story buildings for more office buildings and clinical care.

“Visiting the St. Jude hospital was more incredible than anything I ever could have imagined; the campus was substantially larger than what I thought it ever could be,” said Matt James of Westech Systems LLC. “As we toured the campus, we were able to get a first-hand look behind the scenes of the research, accommodations and all-around greatness that takes place at the St. Jude campus. Westech has been partnering with De Young Properties and building St. Jude homes for almost 10 years now. I’ve been involved and donated my time in every house we’ve built so far but now I was going to get see first-hand what that work has meant to all the people of St. Jude.”

Along with a tour of the facility, the De Young team was able to hear stories from staff and learn more about the story of St. Jude.

“The St. Jude staff was amazing in sharing the story of St. Jude and helping everyone to understand the work that they do and what it all stands for,” James continues. “The founder of St. Jude, Danny Thomas had a dream which was to have a place where a sick child and family could come and be cared for, not stress or worry about bills and leave cancer free. The message that they drive home is that ‘we won't stop until no child dies from cancer; a very strong impactful message.”

Each De Young team member returned with a different outlook after touring the St Jude campus, its facilities and interacting with its staff.

“This was my first year attending St. Jude’s Builder Summit.  I was aware of St. Jude’s commitment to kids and their families from TV commercials but after attending a couple of the sessions, I quickly realized that their commitment and goals are so much greater than I thought,” said Santiago Rendon of Westech Systems LLC. “I was always under the impression that St. Jude would treat patients, but I never imagined that they are also researching cures and treatments in hopes of finding the best cure and not just ‘a’ cure.  It was eye opening to see how they track different treatments with the main goal that ‘surviving is not enough’. That sentence really struck me.”

“Quality of life really matters to the doctors at St. Jude, and they show it. Both of my parents are cancer survivors, and I can attest how hard that is on families.” Rendon continues. “Seeing how St. Jude strives to find cures to make the patients future quality of life the best it can ever be makes my heart happy. This is exactly what I want for my parents; and seeing that this is also what St. Jude wants to do for every patient makes me really proud and happy to support them.”

To date, St. Jude has raised millions of dollars to help fight childhood cancer. Everyone has a love and passion for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“St. Jude is [currently] working hard to help those children outside the US. Survival is one out of five outside the US, while it’s four out of five in the US,” said John Limpus of De Young Properties. “It still amazes me how much money has been earned to date with the St. Jude Dream Home® Giveaway campaign. It’s at over $700 million to help these kids survive and live productive lives. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of researchers that share a building to collaborate to find answers and all working toward the same thing - ending childhood cancer and not charging the patients a dime for ANYTHING!”

Stay Tuned for Details of our “Elev18 Hope” St. Jude Dream Home® Giveaway!

Planning is now underway for the 18th “Elev18 Hope” St. Jude Dream Home® Giveaway! Stay tuned in the upcoming months for more details on how to reserve your tickets. Tickets will go on-sale in February 2025.

One hundred percent of the proceeds are donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year, 10,500 tickets are available in the hopes of raising more than $1,000,000 to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works around the clock to develop cures to save the lives of children, including kids in the San Joaquin Valley. For just $100, you can help save the life of a child with cancer and also have the chance to win a brand-new De Young home, as well as other great prizes.

To learn more about our commitment to giving back to St. Jude and our community, visit our St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway page or the De Young Properties website.