An inaugural gift for some strangers
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WASHINGTON: At the JW Marriott Hotel, $1 million will buy you 300 hotel rooms, $200,000 worth of food and private access to a tented, heated balcony overlooking the parade route of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.
Earl Stafford is buying it all - and giving it away to strangers.
Stafford, a Virginia businessman, plans to invite disadvantaged people, wounded soldiers and others to the prime location on Pennsylvania Avenue. He is calling it the "People's Inaugural Project," inviting those who would never otherwise have a chance to wear tuxedos or satin dresses to the president's swearing in.
"We believe it is important to include those who are less fortunate, because like Barack Obama, we, too, believe in the American dream," Stafford said Thursday.
Stafford bought the package a week before the election, said Erick Speight, the hotel's senior sales executive. Several corporations expressed interest, but Stafford was quick to turn in his deposit. "My initial reaction was probably shock," Speight said.
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"Listening to Mr. Stafford and what he wanted to do seemed surreal; that he was going to purchase the package and venue for such a selfless act was really mind-blowing."
Stafford, the founder of Universal Systems & Technology in Centreville, Virginia, paid $1 million for the hotel package, but is working to raise more money for an inaugural ball for 1,000 people, as well as a youth ball.
Guests found by nonprofits and social service groups will also get gowns and tuxedos, and grooming from hairstylists and makeup artists. There will be a prayer breakfast and luncheon the day before the inauguration, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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