DALLAS — On any other night, Brian and Tiffany Wright — out of work for nine months — would be sleeping in a homeless shelter.
But on Christmas Eve, they were special guests of the Hyatt Regency Dallas, each with a room to call their own.
"Last year I was out in the cold, and this year, I'm warm," Tiffany Wright said.
Brian gets his own bathroom on a men's-only floor at the hotel.
"Lot of privacy, lot of privacy," he said. "I'm gonna sleep good tonight."
The event was a joint project of the Soupmobile and the Hyatt. It began nine years ago with 50 recipients. Now there are ten times that number — along with 1,500 volunteers seeing to it that all runs well.
"For us, it just tops off the entire year," said Soupmobile's David Timothy.
Some hotel employees, like Ripton Melhado, come in with their families to help out. "It's something that we think is near and dear to our company."
No other Hyatt hotel has a project like this, and on Christmas Eve, no one could deny that it brought a special spirit to a Dallas landmark.
E-mail bharris@wfaa.com
