76-year-old Dinwiddie man wins 2020 St. Jude Dream Home

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The winner of the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway was announced on Thursday, Aug. 20.

Charles Rainey of Dinwiddie is the winner of the half a million-dollar luxury townhome in Short Pump.

“Just baffled, kinda floored. I never thought anything like this would happen,” Rainey said, especially since he had tried winning before.

Every time NBC12 has held the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, he has purchased a ticket and tried his luck.

“As we sat there and you all were drawing, my wife asked me ‘Do you think we’re going to win’? I said ‘no, we’re not going to win',” he said.

“Then I said, ‘but we could',” Judy Rainey said.

And guess what? They did.

The Rainey family really believes in St. Jude’s mission. Their daughter is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed in the late 80s.

“We went through 4.5 years of chemo and treatment at MCV,” he explained.

“When I did the Children’s Miracle Network, I did it with Sabrina Squire, and Gene Cox and Jim Duncan. I loved it because we were raising money for children. I love St. Jude because when I see those children on there, I know what they’re going through,” Allison Rainey said.

So what will the retired pharmacist do with the grand prize?

“I’m so excited. I haven’t calmed down enough to even think about it,” she said.

As they figure it out, one thing’s certain. The dream came true one week before Rainey’s 77th birthday.

After purchasing the first $100 ticket, Rainey decided a little later to buy another one. He called but tickets had already sold out by that time. Turns out, he didn’t need two tickets because he already had the winning one.

More than $1 million was raised to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

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