NEWS RELEASES
All Star Miracle Home Comes to Houston

HOUSTON (March 21, 2006) - The All Star Miracle Home is coming soon to Houston—it’s an exciting opportunity for friends of Texas Children’s to help support Children’s Miracle Network and possibly win a new home in the process. Meritage Homes is giving away the All Star Miracle Home, constructed entirely by local vendors and businesses that are generously donating their time, materials and services, to one lucky raffle winner in January 2007. Twenty thousand raffle tickets will be sold for $100 each, and proceeds will directly benefit Children’s Miracle Network. 

Valued at $500,000 and more than 4,100 square feet, the two-level home will be fully furnished and landscaped, featuring four bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, a game room, a media room, a detached garage and swimming pool by Anthony & Sylvan Pools. Once the home is completed in August 2006, it will be open to the public daily for tours.

Ground breaking for the new home occurs on Tuesday, March 21 at the future home site in the Spice Ridge neighborhood in Sienna Plantation. Houston leaders, including John Landon, co-chairman and CEO of Meritage Homes, Michael J. Pizzitola, South Texas president of Meritage Homes, and Richard Filip, CEO RE/MAX of Texas, as well as kids from Children’s Miracle Network will gather for the ceremony.

Every dollar from the raffle benefits Children’s Miracle Network of the greater Houston area to provide financial relief to families who are unable to pay their child’s medical costs. Charity care allows hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. Last year alone, about $21 million in charity care from Children’s Miracle Network of the greater Houston area helped 15,000 children who otherwise might not have received the care they needed and deserved.

A perfect example of charity care at work is the SuperKids Mobile Pediatric Clinic, which is funded partly by charity care. SuperKids is a motor coach that transports a fully equipped medical clinic.  The mission of SuperKids is to provide free primary health care and preventive education to medically underserved children of Houston and their families. SuperKids extends pediatric health care into low-income areas of Houston and is one important way Children’s Miracle Network of the greater Houston area is helping build a community of healthy children. SuperKids’ mission is to connect children to a “permanent medical home”—usually a Project Medical Home practice.

Through its three pediatric practices, Project Medical Home provides affordable and accessible health care to children regardless of their ability to pay. More than 15,000 patient visits are recorded annually at Project Medical Home practices, and SuperKids counts over 18,000 patient visits on its record. Donations to charity care help underwrite the cost of immunizations, medical equipment, lab fees, prescription medications, and medical supplies for both of these vital programs.

To purchase raffle tickets or to obtain more information about the All Star Miracle Home, visit www.allstarmiraclehome.com/houston or call 866-616-2244.