Brandon area’s Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) will host its annual breakfast on May 19 to thank the community for its outpouring of support during a difficult year.
The breakfast, which is free to ECHO supporters, will take place from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at The Barn at Winthrop in Riverview.
“The strong support from the community was incredible,” said ECHO Executive Director Eleanor Saunders. “From food to monetary donations, we had never experienced anything like it in our 34-year history.”
The last 12 months were extremely challenging, Saunders said. “We went from serving 15,000 residents a year to 30,000. We saw a great need for food during the first five months of the (COVID-19) pandemic that quickly morphed into the need for job coaching and social work connections.”
Last March, when the pandemic struck, ECHO sent its volunteers home. “The overwhelming majority did not return for at least 10 months,” Saunders said. “We reoriented our clothing and food distribution areas, widened the aisles, installed plastic guard walls, kept sanitizer and thermometers at the ready. But we never closed. We stayed open.”
The difficult year also allowed Saunders and her staff to rethink their service delivery plan. In January, ECHO opened a 4,200-square foot thrift store and in June, it opened a resource center in Riverview.
The non-profit, which serves Brandon, Clair-Mel, Dover, Gibsonton, Lithia, Mango, Progress Village, Riverview, Seffner and East Tampa, spends 96% of its funding on services.
