HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- Gary Rome and the staff at Gary Rome Hyundai got comfy for a cause Friday as part of the PJ Day for Kids event benefitting Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The auto dealer’s employees traded in their work clothes for pajamas to help raise awareness and encourage community support for children battling cancer.

The dealership collected donations that will go directly towards Connecticut Children’s and the families it serves. Rome explained how the event got started. “It started 15 years ago when this oncologist, this nurse, her daughter, Charlotte, had cancer. She was two years old and her older brother said, ‘Mommy, how come Charlotte gets to wear pajamas all the time? I think we should wear pajamas too,” he said. “So 15 years ago, he said, ‘I think people should pay a dollar.’ They raised $500 doing that, so now every town in Connecticut, all the schools are included and now some in western Massachusetts, like I know in Southampton and East Longmeadow, are doing it as well.”

Rome told us each employee participating in the cause also donated $5 to make sure those children can get the care they need.

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