‘We are in disbelief’: Louisville man wins $750K house in Norton Children’s Hospital raffle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A Louisville man won a house in Norton Commons over the weekend.

Michael Tompkins was selected as the winner in the Norton Children’s Hospital Home & BMW Raffle, and he has spent his entire life giving.

Tickets for the annual Norton Children’s Hospital Home & BMW Raffle went on sale in Oct.

Norton says the 2,800 square-foot home, valued at over $750,000, includes three bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms.

Tompkins said his wife was sleeping on late Saturday night when they got a call that changed their lives.

The winners for the raffle were announced at the Norton Children’s Hospital’s 33rd Snow Ball gala at the Galt House.

”I thought somebody was playing a joke on me at first,” Tompkins said. “I didn’t believe them.”

His $100 donation transformed into a brand new home in Norton Commons.

”I waited until they pulled the ticket out, I heard my name called and then I knew it was true,” Tompkins said.

“I’d loved the design of the house,” he added. “Once we got in the house it was just beyond expectations. We just, we are still in disbelief.”

The 62-year-old sheet worker said he took care of his parents after his mother developed dementia and his dad passed away in 2013.

A few years later, Tompkins saw a Facebook post of a stranger with kidney failure asking for help.

”It just stuck me,” Tompkins said. “He’s in a cycling uniform. I used to cycle, so it kind of felt like we had an immediate connection.”

In 2018, Tompkins said he donated his kidney to him through transplant surgery.

Tompkins said he wouldn’t have been able to without his wife, Mary, by his side. She has Parkinson’s Disease and the beginnings of dementia.

He said they plan to sell the house and use the money to help their son.

Crystal White was the winner of the BMW.

The funds raised from this year’s Home & BMW raffle will benefit mental and behavioral health at Norton Children’s Hospital.

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