By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Hundreds of people and thousands of pounds of food added up to stacked shelves at ECHO, where the need is great and growing, especially so for people who never before have needed help.
That’s the word from the workers at the Emergency Care Help Organization in Riverview, one of two ECHO sites where food was collected and sorted May 11, for the annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, held the second Saturday in May. The second ECHO location is in Brandon.
Chantel Foster and her daughter, Mariah, on volunteer duty at ECHO in Riverview on May 11.
Volunteering with her mother, Chantel, was Mariah Foster, a student at Winthrop College Prep Academy in Riverview.
“Going through boxes of food for people who don’t have food, I’ve learned that the world is really expensive and that everybody is going through something,” Foster said. “The world isn’t all just shiny rainbows.”
As for the example set by her mother, an avid volunteer, “She’s taught me that no matter who you are in life or in the world, you can always do something to help,” Foster said.
Nearby was Savanna Thompson, who took a break to discuss the dire and growing need for help in unsettling times. According to Thompson, roughly half of the people now being served, which ECHO refers to as “neighbors,” are seeking help for the first time in their lives.
Moreover, ECHO for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, is set to break a new record for individuals served, topping last year’s record of more than 30,000 neighbors served monthly.
AdventHealth Care Crew members at ECHO on May 11 were there to unpack, sort and shelve “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive donations.
“The need is just insane in this community, as rents continue to go up and food costs continue to go up,” said Thompson, ECHO’s director of advocacy. “And we’re still seeing people affected by last year’s hurricanes [Helene and Milton]. They just can’t afford their living expenses after the increase in the cost of homeowner’s insurance.”
Thompson is no stranger to the need that exists and the pressure a family feels struggling to make ends meet. “I grew up in a family that lived on food stamps,” she said. “We lived really close to that poverty line my entire life. I remember my mom saying that the times spent asking for help, for the food assistance that existed, were some of the most dehumanizing experiences of her entire life.”
As a result, “I’m very passionate about making sure that the family members who come to ECHO are cared for well and that we call them by name,” Thompson said. “Even though our experiences growing up were really hard, it has sparked a passion in me to be able to make other peoples’ lives better than what it was when I grew up.”
Issuing a similar sentiment is Simeon Baxter, who runs operations for the ECHO Resource Center in Riverview at 10509
Riverview Drive. He went to school to become a social worker and has worked at ECHO since 2023.
“A lot of it comes from my own experience of need growing up,” Baxter said, of his heart to serve. “We went to food pantries when I was little as well. We participated in the SNAP program. Understanding what it feels like at the other end and making people feel safe, that’s exactly why I went into social work.”
Like Thompson, Baxter said his focus is to make sure people in need feel heard and respected. The “state of emergency” so many of us are feeling in today’s inflationary times, Baxter said, “is putting a lot of us on the same level as far as our state of need, whether it’s for rent, food or other services.”
Saturday’s intake of food was sorely needed, as donations have waned since the year-end holiday boost and as summer vacation kicks off for kids who no longer get free- and reduced-price meals at school.
As the trucks rolled in Saturday, with bags of food left by donors at their mailboxes and collected by letter carriers on their regular routes, ECHO volunteers worked hard to unload, sort, pack and shelve.
Among them were volunteers from AdventHealth, which recently opened the U.S. Highway 301 hospital in Riverview. The volunteers sported “Care Crew” T-shirts, with the group’s mission statement (“Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ”) printed on the back.
Linda Chion Kenney PHOTOS
Savanna Thompson, ECHO’s director of Advocacy Savanna Thompson, at the ECHO Resource Center in Riverview on May 11
“We’re always looking for opportunities to volunteer and collaborate,” said Bo Sun, AdventHealth community outreach manager. “It’s not just dealing with you when you’re sick but also being a part of the community. It’s about being a good neighbor and having a positive impact on people’s lives.”
Standing with him were Karis Nieves and her husband, Marcelino, who works in the finance department.
“I work at AdventHealth because I care about people,” Marcelino Nieves said. “I look at numbers all day. But today, this is how I can really get out there and do something with my hands and make a difference in people’s lives.”
ECHO Resource Centers in Brandon and Riverview serve neighbors who are one disease, one accident, one job loss, one rent increase, one crisis away from sustainability with food, clothing, job search and social services assistance. For more on donations, services and volunteer opportunities, as well as ECHO Thrift Store services, visit www.ECHOfl.org/ or call 813-540-9880.
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