“Childhood cancer is a personal effect for me.”
Electrician for the 2022 St. Jude Dream home wants his story to bring hope to children battling cancer
Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The St. Jude dream home continues to be a great opportunity for our community to support the fight against childhood cancer.
This year’s home is already underway and one electrician working on it knows that fight first hand.
Tommy Buckner is one of many ensuring this project is, in fact, a “dream home.” But this job is different for the longtime electrician.
“Childhood cancer is a personal effect for me. When I was young I had a 4 year battle with leukemia, and I was able to survive cancer,” said Buckner.
Now, Bucker is giving back to those fighting that same battle - donating his time and services to the 2022 St. Jude dream home.
“When we explained this to our team, they all wanted to jump in and they wanted to have a hands on piece of it. For me personally, it’s just an opportunity that I feel like I get to give back and just to see this come full circle,” said Buckner.
Every year KPLC and the St. Jude team sees the community step up. Last year, the dream home raised over $1 million.
“I think it’s just a testament to what Lake Charles is,” said Buckner.
While Buckner received treatment elsewhere, he has a friend who received care at St. Jude.
“They took care of the family, and they took care of the child, and it was just an amazing experience; for the tragedy that it was, St. Jude just treated them as well as they could have been,” said Buckner.
Construction on the home is coming along quickly, tickets go on sale June 7th, you should be able to tour the home in late October. We’ll be giving the home away in December.
The entire electrical system is being donated by Lake Area Electric, and LAE Security, with materials donated by Graybar, Square D, Alarm.com and DSC.
Copyright 2022 KPLC. All rights reserved.
