Pajama Program Volunteers Needed!

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About PAJAMA PROGRAM INC

Location:

114 EAST 39TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10016, US

Mission Statement

We want every child to feel the love and security that ensures peaceful sleep -- and to awaken with the energy and spirit to make every day positive, happy and hopeful. We are committed to opening up their imaginations, which helps them escape for a moment from the reality of their lives today. And we believe in teaching the power of creativity to help them invent better lives for themselves -- today and tomorrow. We accomplish this with the rather magical gifts of pajamas and books -- ordinary objects that transform their bedtimes into comforting rituals of love, support and fun. And we do this all with unconditional love and a wholehearted commitment to the Good Night Bill of Rights, dedicated to giving every child everywhere a better tomorrow.

Description

Pajama Program was born from one simple question, posed by a child: "What are pajamas?"

This was not a question from a child on a field trip to a museum, but from Maria, a young girl living in a shelter who was holding a pair of pajamas for the first time. When she finally understood that the pajamas were a gift, and that before bed she could change into them from the clothes she had worn all day, she asked happily,

That was back in 2001, when Genevieve Piturro, Pajama Program’s founder, discovered that the children she read to at a local shelter did not have a caring adult to tuck them into bed each night, let alone a pair of warm, comforting pajamas to change into or a storybook to enjoy before the night descended. Instead, the children she saw there were often relegated to sleeping on a cot or futon, two or three together, still wearing their clothes of the day.

With bags full with new pajamas and storybooks, Genevieve returned to the shelter to ensure that all of the children there would enjoy a good night. And realizing that this ritual was missing from the lives of many children all across the country, she started Pajama Program to bring love and hope to them all in the form of a loving bedtime.