Each year thousands of patients travel to Boston for medical treatment and with them come family members and friends to lend support. Whether the trip is planned in advance or the result of an acute medical crisis, many arrive in an unfamiliar city with no place to stay and often lack the financial resources to pay for a hotel. Hospitality Hosts provide a compassionate presence and a welcoming home to which to return at the end of a long day.

What it Means to Be a Hospitality Homes Host

Hospitality Homes Hosts are trained volunteers who provide a clean and comfortable place to sleep and access to a bathroom in their private homes. Many hosts also offer limited kitchen use, however, our volunteer hosts do not provide meals or transportation. Few of our hosts live within walking distance of the major hospitals but most live in areas with access to public transportation (subway or buses). All hosts attend a training session and our staff visits each host home before it becomes active.

Housing is provided on a short-term basis and Hospitality Homes charges no fees. Instead, guests are encouraged to make donations to the organization to sustain the program.

The Rewards of Hosting

• Hosting is a wonderful way to help people who are in very stressful and difficult circumstances – and it's easy and flexible. You don't have to leave your home, you host only when it is convenient to do so, and you can tailor your hosting to fit with your lifestyle. For example, you determine how many guests you want to have, what length of stay you prefer, whether to accept children and/or patients, whether or not to offer kitchen privileges, etc.

• Hosting allows you to contribute something other than money, something far more personal–your home–and it allows you to help someone directly.

• Hosting helps patients as well as guests. Patients are comforted in knowing that their loved ones are staying in a comfortable home setting instead of sitting alone in a hotel room.