Built by a family.
Fueled by community.
PJs People is dedicated to providing support and resources for children and families navigating special needs, serious medical conditions, and physical challenges. We show up because someone showed up for us.
Two people who grew up together and decided to give back together.
Zac and Samantha Czerniewski grew up in Montgomery County, Missouri. High school sweethearts. Now married with three kids. Their story is the kind that feels ordinary until life changes it.
In 2014, their daughter Paislee Jo was born with CHARGE Syndrome. She spent her first three months in the NICU. Zac and Samantha learned quickly what it means to need a community and to have one show up.
Neighbors showed up. Friends showed up. Strangers showed up. And that experience changed everything about how Zac and Samantha saw their place in the world.
PJs People was born from that experience. From gratitude that had to go somewhere.
The girl behind the name.
Paislee Jo is 12 years old. She was born with CHARGE Syndrome and spent her first three months of life in the NICU. She has faced more than most people will in a lifetime.
And she has done it with a spirit, a determination, and a genuine joy for life that amazes everyone around her.
PJs People carries her initials because she is the reason her parents knew this work mattered. Every event, every dollar raised, every family supported carries a piece of her story.
A mother who knows what it feels like to need help.
Samantha has walked this road as a parent. She knows what it feels like to sit in a waiting room not knowing what comes next. To have people show up when you couldn't do it alone.
That experience is why PJs People exists. Not as a program or a policy but as a family that remembers and refuses to forget.
When you support PJs People, you are walking alongside families like the one that built it.
The values behind everything we do.
Community First
We believe community is how people get through the hardest things. Everything we do is designed to bring people together around families who need it.
Personal and Real
We are not a corporation. We are a family. Our board is made up of people who have lived this experience and that makes every decision personal.
Local and Rooted
We serve Warren, Lincoln, and Montgomery Counties. Local giving stays local. The families we support are our neighbors.
Direct Impact
Every dollar raised goes directly to organizations and families dealing with the financial weight of special needs and serious medical care. No fluff. No overhead.
Putting the money where the mission is.
We have donated to organizations like the Moog Center which provides critical hearing resources to children and families. Every fundraiser, every event, every sponsor makes moments like this possible.
