We are honored to have this guest post from Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.
Who would have thought that by wearing your pajamas you could help the homeless? In Denver, when you have great community partners in the hospitality industry such as Southwest Airlines, anything is possible! And in Denver, we know with more than 4,000 homeless men, women and children, not everyone has the opportunity to wear their pjs to bed at night.
This year, as momentum continues to build in our efforts to end homelessness in 10 years, Southwest Airlines and Denver's Road Home are teaming up for the first time for PJ Day on Thursday, Jan. 28. Southwest Airlines joins the ranks of more than 60 businesses, 30 restaurants and 35 schools who know that Denver can be a community where every homeless man, woman and child has a place to call home!
It started five years ago when Sage Hospitality and Denver's Road Home hosted our first PJ Party at the Residence Inn Denver City Center. Since then, the party has become THE event of the season, raising nearly $1 million to date!
We have used these funds to assist us in developing more than 1,500 units of housing, helping those experiencing homelessness find new hope and independence through employment, medical, mental health and substance abuse services. At the same time we have prevented over 2,000 families from becoming homeless.
This year, we decided to turn up the fun with PJ Day! Our goal is to bring together the hospitality industry, businesses, schools, and citizens to participate by donning their most festive pajamas at work, at home and at school. It is also the perfect opportunity for businesses to make sponsorship contributions and educate their customers about why they should support Denver’s Road Home. PJ Day culminates with our Fifth Annual PJ Party!
Ending homelessness is not only the right thing to do, it is also the fiscally responsible thing to do. It costs our community $15,000 to move a chronically homeless person into housing and treatment, but can cost up to $40,000 annually when a homeless person stays on the street and seeks out the emergency room and other expensive emergency services.
Homeless service providers report that giving is down and a record number of people are seeking shelter and meals. People who were living on the edge in good times have lost jobs, homes and health care. Together, through Denver’s Road Home and the Mile High United Way, we are finding innovative solutions to end homelessness by providing permanent and transitional housing, shelter, homeless prevention, medical, mental health and substance abuse services, education, training, and employment opportunities. We have made great strides toward our goal of ending homelessness, but we have much more work to do!
This year, we look forward to partnering with Southwest Airlines and others to help us move Denver's Road Home forward! So dust off the flannels and check out http://www.pjday.org/ for more details, contact information and fun contests.
Our heartfelt thanks to Southwest Airlines and all of our partners for all you are doing to make Denver a great place for everyone to live!
