ECHO Targets Hungry Children With $2,000 Grant From Tampa Foundation

Brandon’s Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) will help feed more hungry children this summer thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

The $2,000 grant will go to a summer food program targeting children who might otherwise go hungry. Free school breakfasts and lunches are often the only steady meal for many poor children. Families are left with few resources when schools close for the summer. That’s where ECHO steps in.

“The grant will help us purchase food for the summer months,” said Stacey Efaw, ECHO’s executive director who sees a 25 percent increase in those seeking help during the summer. “We tend to get really busy in June, July and August with the kids out of school at that time so we will use that money to buy non-perishable and perishable items and we will distribute that to families that come to us over summer months.”

“Many of our donors rely on us to determine where grant dollars can do the most good. On their behalf, we are gratified to be able to provide a $2,000 grant to ECHO to help with such basic human needs,” said Ann D. Berg, vice president of grants at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay.

Efaw is more than grateful for the grant, coming on the heels of a  April 9 that also helped raise funds for the group. “We are very lucky we have such a very supportive community,” she said.

There is no shortage of need according to a recent Feeding America Tampa Bay "Hunger In America" hunger study.  

Among other key findings in the report:  

• The Feeding America system served by Feeding America Tampa Bay provides emergency food for an estimated 409,700 different people annually.

• Thirty-seven percent of the members of households served by Feeding America Tampa Bay are children under age 18.

• Twenty-two percent of households include at least one employed adult.

• Among households with children, 93 percent are food insecure and 58 percent are food insecure with very low food security.

• Fifty-eight percent of clients served by Feeding America of Tampa Bay report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel.

• Thirty-seven percent had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.

 The study was conducted by the national Feeding America food bank network and created by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

 The Brandon Food Pantry at ECHO distributes up to one week of nutritious food for each family and is always willing to accept donations of the following non-perishable food items:

• Canned meats
• Jelly
• Peanut Butter
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Canned Fruit
• Canned Pasta
• Rice
• Macaroni and Cheese

To donate, volunteer or enquire about the services at ECHO visit the group’s web site or office at 507 N. Parsons Ave. in Brandon or call (813) 685-0935.