Innkeepers Offer Free Weekend Getaways to Those Battered by the Recession
Leslie and Brian Mulcahy give free vacation weekends to couples out of work.
July 31, 2009— -- Vermont innkeeper Leslie Mulcahy remembers what it's like to have a husband out of work and feel beaten down by a recession.
"It goes past the financial stress," she said. "You're wondering what's wrong with you. Why you can't find anything. And then you realize there's nothing to be found. But that's not comforting either."
Mulcahy says her life started to turn around when she and her husband Brian Mulcahy, took a trip they really couldn't afford to the Rabbit Hill Inn -- a small, luxurious bed and breakfast tucked away in the White Mountains of northern Vermont.
"We were worlds away from everything that could burden you, and nothing mattered except being a couple," she said.
Today the Mulcahys own and run the inn. The harsh economy has left them with rooms to spare, so they hope to help other couples down on their luck.
They came up with a contest called The Pink Slip Getaway. Anyone out of work for more than six months could enter by writing a letter and telling his or her story.
Hundreds of letters poured in -- each relaying just how difficult these tough times have made people's lives. Mothers wrote in with concerns for their kids, and spouses sent letters detailing just how hard their other halves were working.
Liz Bloking wrote to the Mulcahys about her husband Craig. His company had asked him to lay off most of his co-workers, and then he, too, was given a pink slip after 24 years with the company.
"Our story is no more special than thousands of others," Bloking wrote in her letter. "It's a story of the everyday good guy who finds himself lost ... and not quite sure what lies ahead of him."
Caroline Lightbody worked two jobs as a customer service representative to keep food on the table. When her husband lost his job as a master plumber, she wrote to the Mulcahys about her fears of losing their home. She and her husband built the house themselves and had lived there for 21 years.
"We have had hard times before, but nothing like this. Most of our bills are in collection," Lightbody wrote in her letter.
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