Hosts For Hospitals

HOSTS for HOSPITALS is is a nonprofit agency which since July has provided deeply discounted lodging and support to over 4,500 patient-families as a caring response to their needs in association with traveling to Greater Philadelphia for specialized medical care. At our 25th Anniversary Gala this May we launched our ‘Philadelphia 250 Patient-Family Housing-Recruitment Initiative’. This is an ongoing, intensive publicity campaign whereby in collaboration with the broadest range of community partners we will seek to greatly increase our capacity to house patient-families in 2026 and beyond. The context for this program is that for many months in 2026, hotel accommodations will not be available for patient-families due to all of the events which will be happening in our area next year including: 1. the NCAA Division I college basketball tournament in March 2. the PGA Championship in May at the Aronimink golf course 3. six World Cup Soccer matches in June and July 4. 250 ‘Philadelphia250’ events for July 4th 5. the MLB All-Star game and Home-run Derby mid-July A similar dynamic occurred in 2015 when a million tourists were anticipated during the Papal visit to Philadelphia. HOSTS for HOSPITALS was contacted by a social worker at the Roberts Proton Center who expressed grave concern that during the Papal-visit, there would be no hotel rooms available for patient-families. We initiated a broad public relations campaign in partnership with businesses, community groups and a number of hospitals, the result being that we received over 300 inquiries about providing lodging during that time! We invite our friends to contact us to offer lodging and/or help spread word of the opportunity to do so.