This Dallas woman grew up getting PJs at Christmas. Now her nonprofit gives them to seniors

Jo Alch didn’t grow up like the average child.

Raised by her grandmother in New Orleans, she received pajamas for Christmas instead of toys. On Saturdays, instead of playing with the neighborhood kids, Alch and her siblings visited nursing homes with their grandmother. One in particular still stands out today: The Home for the Incurables.

“There were people just lined up in beds and they were basically wards of the state,” Alch said. “They had no family at all.”

Decades later, Alch still spends a lot of time at nursing homes, and she’s kept up her grandmother’s tradition.

Alch is the director of Pajamas for Seniors, a Dallas nonprofit that provides new pajamas for low-income residents of nursing and assisted living homes.

When Alch, a registered nurse, started working in hospice care almost 30 years ago, it surprised her how many patients wore hospital gowns because they didn’t have clothes of their own. Most of them start out in a hospital, then transition to rehab and later a nursing facility. If they don’t have family, then they don’t have anyone to bring their belongings.

More than half the residents in U.S. nursing homes have no close relatives, and over 60% never have visitors, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

“Add COVID to that, and it’s 100%,” Alch said.

Pajamas for Seniors received nonprofit status in 2018, but Alch started giving pajamas to her hospice patients about eight years ago. The pandemic has hindered the organization’s team from interacting directly with the residents, but Alch and the two other staff members have found “creative” ways to connect with the community.

The latest was a holiday drive-through that the nonprofit hosted on Friday. Dressed in Santa hats, reindeer antlers and jingle bells, staff and volunteers greeted donors at The Reserve at North Dallas, a retirement home, with candies and doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. Santa himself smiled under his mask and waved at cars.

The two-hour event ended with four bins of new pajamas and hundreds of dollars in donations. Most donations come in small, medium and large, so the money buys plus-size nightwear.

Staff at Pajamas for Seniors reaches out to facilities to find out what sizes are needed, but Alch said residents who wear large and plus sizes are still surprised when they receive clothes that fit them.

“This is like the one thing that they can have on their own,” said Michelle Campobasso, who has volunteered with Alch for about three years. “It’s something that they can sleep and relax in.”

Alch called Campobasso, who works at Vera Hospice, a “master marketer and connector.” She’s helped spread the word about the organization and recruit sponsors like At Home Personal Care and Home Helpers, in-home senior care businesses.

“There’s a lot of seniors that are unfortunate,” said Tonya Dozier, managing partner and co-owner of At Home Personal Care. “Or they are fortunate and their family members don’t have time to tend to their needs.”

Pajamas for Seniors hosts drives throughout the year for those who don’t have relatives or friends to care for them. The upcoming events are scheduled for New Year’s Eve and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and The Reserve at North Dallas will accept holiday donations through Dec. 18.

Staff and volunteers have said that they hope hosting regular drives will raise awareness about the needs of seniors. Alch added that most people are willing to help, but they usually don’t know how.

“That’s really what I’d love to see: awareness so people that think, ‘Let’s bring backpacks to kids for the first day of school,’ [can also think] ‘It’s Valentine’s Day, let’s bring Valentine’s socks to the neighborhood nursing home this week,’” Alch said.

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