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The Benefactor of the Ball
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In addition to providing the hotel, at Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street NW, Stafford plans a prayer breakfast there the morning of the 19th -- Martin Luther King Jr. Day -- and a luncheon that day.
The next day, Inauguration Day, a youth ball is planned at the hotel, as well as a "People's Inaugural Ball."
Stafford said he wants at least 30 percent of those staying in his rooms and participating in the events to be disadvantaged or needy in some way. The remaining participants could be people from sponsoring foundations, contributing companies or volunteers.
He said he began thinking about the project in March. He voted for Obama, and records show he contributed $4,600 to his campaign. Stafford, a retired Air Force officer, noted that he does not agree with all of Obama's positions.
Still, he concluded that Obama could win the election and realized that the inauguration would be "a transition in history, if you will . . . and everyone should be included."
Stafford, who is black, said he views the election of the nation's first African American president as a moment that promises a renewed emphasis on the needs of people.
He said he is working with the National Urban League and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the country's premier black-oriented think tank, and will talk to the military services to help select the people to invite.
"We intend to reach out to some of the hospitals, some of the homeless shelters, some of the other social agencies who then will host these individuals, be responsible for these individuals coming in," he said.
"We'll provide the venue. We'll provide all the amenities and those type of things," he said. The partnering organizations, such as the Urban League, will be allocated a certain number of rooms for people they help select. "The Urban League will be responsible for their safety, their security, for bringing them in to Washington," he said.
"There will be those who are distressed and underserved mingling with people who aren't so," he said. The needy will be "our honored guests. That's who inspire us."
He wants gowns and tuxedos to be provided, and has hired beauticians "to make it special for these people coming in," he said.
Stafford grew up in Mount Holly, N.J., across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, where his father was a minister at the Second Baptist Church. He served for many years in the Air Force, where he was an air traffic controller, and said he gets chills when he hears the national anthem.
