Eight clients and two staff members from N Street Village, a Washington charity that serves homeless and low-income women, are among 1,000 people invited to attend the People’s Inaugural Ball on January 20 to celebrate Barack Obama’s swearing in.

The ball is one of several People’s Inaugural Project events held by the Stafford Foundation, a private foundation headed by the Virginia businessman Earl W. Stafford, the founder of a Centreville technology company, who paid $1-million to purchase an inauguration hotel package offered by the JW Marriott, in Washington, to ensure that Americans who are poor or disabled will have an opportunity to participate in the inauguration festivities. The foundation is also reaching out to wounded veterans and people who have suffered domestic abuse or face other troubles.

After seeing a news article about the People’s Inaugural Project, N Street Village contacted the Stafford Foundation by e-mail and received a follow-up invitation to send eight clients and two staff members to the ball. Upon receiving the invitation, the charity’s staff members selected eight women who have excelled in the charity’s programs and made great strides toward their personal goals.

Elaine Webber, who came to N Street Village a little over two years ago, volunteers as a receptionist for the the charity’s dental clinic and couldn’t believe that she was one of the women chosen to attend the ball.

“I cried,” says Ms. Webber. “Because two years ago I was homeless and helpless and in that black hole of despair and living on the streets. To think that I would be picked to go the ball was something that I never thought would happen to me.”

“It’s the Cinderella event of the year,” says Evelene Duhart, the charity’s transitional housing case manager. “People are excited for us, they’re calling us the Cinderellas.”

Ms. Duhart will accompany the selected women to the JW Marriott on Sunday to chose from donated ball gowns and to get their nails done. They will return on Tuesday for hair appointments before attending the ball that evening.

Mr. Stafford, 60, and his foundation have spent more than $1.6-million to host the People’s Inaugural Project. A third of tickets for all events have been distributed to needy people from across the country, as well as organizations that serve poor people across the nation.