Raffle for a Gucci Watch, Upscale Thrift Sale at Trunk Show for ECHO at Barnacles

Correction: The watch being raffled is a Gucci. A previous headline gave an incorrect manufacturer.

Forget about the yard sale of gently worn, ordinary clothes as a quick way to raise money for charity – at least for now. The Emergency Care Help Organization, which once a month holds such a sale at its food bank and clothes closet on Parsons Avenue, is thinking outside the box.

Or, should we say, the trunk.

On May 1, at the restaurant at 926 Providence Road, ECHO is holding its first-ever Trunk Show, featuring new and gently used designer and upscale items for sale, including clothing for men, women and children. Also in the mix: handbags, shoes, jewelry and sunglasses.

Raffle tickets will be available for purchase, with prizes including a new Gucci woman’s watch, reportedly valued at $895, and tickets to the Tampa concert of One Direction, a British-Irish boy band.

There is no cost to attend the Trunk Show, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and includes complimentary appetizers. All proceeds benefit ECHO.

For more information, call ECHO at 813-685-0935. Learn more online at www.ECHOfl.org.

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ECHO Meets A Need
  

• In 2011, ECHO helped 10,779 individuals, including 5,103 children.

• Children represented 47 percent of the need addressed by the emergency care organization, which provides food, clothes and small household furnishings to people facing extraordinary circumstances. A person is eligible for aid up to four times in one lifetime.

• Moreover, ECHO distributed 263,279 pounds of food and gave away $622,833 worth of clothing.

(Source: ECHO 2011 year-end report)