of the splashiest inauguration packages out there . It includes high-end hotel rooms and luxury suites , food and drinks , a heated viewing spot right above the parade route , even gowns and tuxedos to wear to celebratory balls and a beautician to help attendees get ready . Hours after the election , Stafford , a 60-year-old businessman and son of a Baptist minister , invested in what the JW Marriott billed as its $ 1 million `` build-your-own-ball '' inaugural hotel package . His family 's nonprofit foundation , the Stafford Foundation , is footing the bill for what it is calling the People 's Inaugural Project , but it is also hoping to get money from sponsors . Stafford said Thursday that he hopes the balcony terrace is filled `` with those who are disadvantaged , those who are distressed , mingling with those who are n't so . And we hope to see on their faces a sense of excitement . '' `` I was inspired to do this by the Lord . ... It 's not about us but about us helping other people , '' he said . At least third of the tickets
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As Washington gears up for January 's presidential inauguration with high-priced tickets to fancy affairs , one businessman is making sure that some of the less fortunate will have a chance to share in the festivities . Earl Stafford is a Virginia businessman helping the disadvantaged see the inauguration . Virginia businessman Earl Stafford has spent $ 1 million to give hundreds of poverty-stricken and terminally ill Americans , along with wounded men and women in uniform , an inauguration experience that wo n't cost them anything . The zero-dollar price tag is even more shocking , considering that tickets to the inaugural events are going for hundreds of dollars , the city 's remaining hotel rooms are edging into four-figure territory , and even basements and couches miles from the National Mall are going for a premium on Craigslist . Tickets for the inauguration are distributed through members of Congress , and just 240,000 seats are available for the swearing-in ceremony . The tickets are supposed to be free , but with demand outpacing supply , some people have been trying to scalp tickets for thousands of dollars . Stafford 's event is one