It's any kid's dream playhouse.

Two complementary buildings - one a brightly painted "tent" complete with streamers, flags and pinwheels, and the other a multicolored circus wagon filled with inflatable animals - create a circus-themed atmosphere of fun and adventure.

Elephants and monkeys join a parade of other circus creatures inside each room, and small, plastic "Dora the Explorer" chairs provide comfortable seating - for children, anyway.

And this dream playhouse, currently ownerless, could belong to any child in Natrona County School District as of May 10.

Designed by Brandon Meshechek, 12, a student at Willard Elementary School, the playhouse will be raffled off as this year's only fundraiser for Seton House, a nonprofit organization that provides shelter to homeless families.

Meshechek, who said the winning theme "just came to my mind," entered his artistic idea last year as part of Seton House's annual "Design-a-Playhouse" contest.

"It's up to them to design what they think would be a terrific playhouse," said Pam Kozola, executive director of Seton House. "It's really anything they dream up."

In keeping with an overall theme of giving every child a chance, free playhouse raffle tickets will be distributed to all Natrona County School District students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

"We want to make sure every child has a chance in life," Kozola said. "We give the homeless children at Seton House a chance, and every child has a free chance to win the drawing."

The raffle raises about 15 percent of all yearly operating costs for the organization.

"Housing is such a huge issue here (in Casper) right now, and we end up having more homeless families here, even though the economy is better, because the housing crisis has increased so dramatically," Kozola said. "This (raffle) is important to us as far as operating costs, but also to share our mission and our program with the community so that they know we're out there."

Reach Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com

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Buy tickets

Raffle tickets, which are $3 each or two for $5, are available at:

* Eastridge Mall - Becker Real Estate, Sadler's Hallmark, The Galilean, The Shade Tree, Wyoming Shirt and Gift

* Hilltop Shopping Center - Country Charm, Ralph's Book Store

* Sunrise Shopping Center - Flower Gallery

* In the community - Diamond Vogel Paint Center, the Indians, Wyoming Shirt and Gift

Help Seton House

To provide one free raffle ticket for each Natrona County School District student in kindergarten through sixth grades, Seton house is seeking sponsors from the community to purchase tickets. For more information, contact Seton House at 577-8026.