For families separated from loved ones by incarceration, hospital stays or similar places of residency, the holidays can be a difficult time. A local motel hopes to make that easier.
In a tradition they call "Rooms at the Inn," the Super 8 Motel in Kingdom City gives free rooms on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to travelers visiting family or loved ones in prison, juvenile detention and rehab centers, Boys and Girls Town, hospitals or other places that their loved ones can't leave in mid-Missouri.
The motel's general manager, Scott Meislin, said anyone making trips into Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Moniteau and Montgomery counties were eligible. He said the tradition was originally observed by motels across the country, and that Super 8 usually caters to 10 families on Christmas Eve and three or four Christmas Day.