Retired teachers Jim and Mary Ann Heath weren’t looking for their dream home when they entered a raffle to benefit Palatine Township Elementary District 15. They merely wanted to help the school district in which they had invested the better part of their lives.
But when the drawing was held recently, the Heaths came away with a two-story four-bedroom Colonial worth $262,900–a nice reward for a combined 66 years of teaching.
“I know this sounds corny, but District 15 has been awful good to us. We have a real fondness for the kids and the parents,” Mary Ann Heath said, explaining why the couple bought two $100 raffle tickets even though they are happy with their Palatine townhouse.
“It wasn’t a matter of thinking we were going to win. We newer do. Thirty-three years ago we won a turkey from Dominick’s, and we hadn’t won since,” she said.
The house the Heaths won will be completed next spring in Concord Mills, a Palatine subdivision being built by Concord Homes that will consist of 130 houses and 120 townhouses.
The Heaths, whose longtime avocation is antique dealing, haven’t decided yet whether to move to Concord Mills or sell their prize and remain in their townhome.
“We’re trying to do what we’ve told our students for all these 30-odd years, and that is to make informed decisions,” said Mary Ann Heath, 58, who taught eighth grade before retiring last year with her husband, who taught seventh grade.
The raffle raised more than $50,000 for the District 15 Educational Foundation, which funds technology, arts programs and innovative projects devised by teachers.
The raffle, whose other prizes were a 1996 Dodge Neon, a 27-inch color television and a home security system, was the brainchild of Tom Thomas, a broker with Baird and Warner Real Estate in Palatine. His fiance is a reading specialist in the school district.
“Knowing the way things are with the school district–they’ve had budget cuts and there’s a 5 percent tax cap–I thought this was a good way to raise money,” Thomas said.
“As a Realtor and Palatine resident, schools are an important factor because it’s one of the questions people with children looking to move in are going to ask: How are the schools?”
Thomas said the raffle was so successful–3,503 tickets were sold, and there was solid backing from area companies–that it may become a regular event.
Baird and Warner received no money from the raffle, Thomas said; the realty firm even gave the $6,500 commission it earned on the house “sale” to the educational foundation.
Jim Heath, 59, seemed just as excited about the raffle’s success as about his own.
“It’s a wonderful thing for any teacher that has a great idea and the many students that are going to be affected by this,” he said.
