TUCSON, Ariz. — Hotel McCoy is hosting a Christmas Safe Space for people to feeling alone during the holidays.
The holidays can be tough for people who can't go home and be with family or maybe don't have a place to go too. This is something Hotel McCoy employee Christopher Valenzuela experienced first-hand.
He said he was born and raised in Tucson, but lived in Los Angeles for a while. When he was there, the holidays were the hardest because he said he never felt like he had a place to go too.
"I think during this time it can feel like superb isolating, so it's great to have a community and somewhere to go, so that way you can connect with those bonds that you don't normal have," Valenzuela said.
That's why he went to his General Manager Nicole Dahl with the idea behind the Hotel McCoy Christmas Safe Space.
"It never really felt like I had a space to be, and I know that it kind of sucks that sometimes your family isn't really the safest space to be around, so I want to create a space here that kind of encapsulated that," Valenzuela said.
When he came to Dahl with the idea, she said she wished she thought of it herself.
"I myself have been away from my family on the holidays and spent the night alone in my apartment feeling all sad," Dahl said. "When Christopher our front desker came to me with the idea of doing a safe space it was sort of a no brainer."
The event is an inclusive space for everyone in the community.
It will run all day on Christmas Eve. and Christmas Day starting at 11 a.m.
There will be:
Free Locally Roasted Coffee
$1 Off Tucson Tamales
$1 Off any N/A Drink
$4 Glasses of House Wine
$3 Barrio Cans
Christmas movies
Board games.
"We want it to be a place where you can come and feel a sense of belonging and welcoming and family," Dahl said. "Even if we start the night as strangers, we can end it as family."
