By LINDA CHION KENNEY
Despite the growing need in difficult times, it’s the spirit of giving and the fiscal year advances for the Emergency Care Help Organization in Riverview that Steve McKinnon reflects upon as the year ends.
When food stamps stopped temporarily in November, due to the federal government shutdown, the need intensified, but so, too, [did] the spirit of giving, said Steve McKinnon, ECHO’s development manager.
ECHO aims to bridge the gap between crisis and stability.
Helping hands at an ECHO food drive help out at the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
“The whole community seems to rise up whenever we have a disaster of any kind, a storm, COVID or in this case, the SNAP program. When the need is great, the community steps up, McKinnon said.”
Serving 17 ZIP codes in south and east Hillsborough County, ECHO has resource centers in Riverview and Brandon, which opened in 1987. A third location, in partnership with Suncoast Health, is set to open in Thonotosassa, in the fourth quarter of 2026.
That puts off, for now, a location further south in Hillsborough County to better serve the Ruskin and Sun City Center areas, as well as Wimauma. The shift in focus reportedly is due to an offer from Suncoast Health, building a location in Thonotosassa, and its offer to join forces with ECHO.
Steve McKinnon, ECHO development manager, and Savannah Thompson, ECHO’s director of advancement, smile for a photo at a Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive at the ECHO Riverview Resource Center.
“My hope for the past six years was to see the next resource center in the south,” said Steve McKinnon, in an interview this week. “When Suncoast came up with its offer, build to suit and rent at a low rate, we couldn’t say no.” But once Thonotosassa is open and stabilized, McKinnon added, a fourth center in south county is next on the list to complete the four-location plan.
For now, the Riverview location, opened in 2018, in the old library off Riverview Drive, is serving a good number of south county neighbors, living primarily in Apollo Beach, Gibsonton, Lithia, Riverview, Ruskin and Sun City Center.
ECHO provides aid in three main categories, including emergency (food and clothing) and back-to-work services, as it relates to securing viable income. The third category involves research associates who find resources to address housing instability, worsened by inflationary times, and the rising costs for rent, insurance and utilities.
Numbers for the ECHO Resource Center in Riverview and in Brandon, where ECHO first opened 38 years ago, are both staggering and a reflection of the times. In early November, for example, due to funding issues related to the federal government shutdown, SNAP payments were temporarily halted.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, helps millions of low-income Americans afford groceries. The suspension during this critical period increased the urgency for food assistance among vulnerable populations, and that’s when ECHO, long dependent on the spirit of community giving, once again stepped up as a bridge between need and support.
“From personal donations to [those from] schools and companies, just everywhere, food donations have been flowing in,” McKinnon said. “We’ve seen an incredible amount of support for food operations over the past 30 days. And we’ve needed it.”
To illustrate, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, held for years the first Saturday of the month in May in conjunction with postal service workers, nets ECHO roughly 70,000 pounds of food. In November, McKinnon continued, community donations in the face of discontinued SNAP payments netted 44,000 pounds of food.
“It just started flowing in from all different directions, including small and large businesses,” McKinnon added. “We partner with 30 schools and a lot of it came from their food drives, but the majority came from individual donors.”
The fiscal year for ECHO runs July 1 through June 30. According to McKinnon, ECHO in fiscal year 2025 served 28,377 neighbors, mostly for food insecurity but also for employment and cost of living assistance. Overall, ECHO had an eight-year running average of about 14,000 neighbors served, followed by a one-year high around 30,000, followed by last year’s 28,000.
Meanwhile, “the first five months of this fiscal year have been pretty busy for us,” McKinnon added, noting that 18,937 neighbors were assisted July through November. “It’s just crazy, the numbers we’re seeing.”
In expressing his gratitude for community support, McKinnon turned as well to the need at hand.
“We continue to need food and clothing donations and we can always use toiletry drives,” McKinnon said. Monthly donations are helpful, he added, to help cover as well general operating expenses.
Linda Chion Kenney photos
The ECHO Riverview Resource Center, in the old library, is at 10509 Riverview Drive.
As for who is in need, they come from all walks of life. “Forty-four percent of the people we saw in a recent month were first-time visitors to our resource center, and it takes a lot for people to walk in our doors for the very first time,” McKinnon said. “Your neighbors are pinched so hard they have to come to us.”
The homeless have historically accounted for 11 to 12 percent of the need, “which may not even be that high anymore,” McKinnon added. “People are being impacted by the increase and high cost of rent, food, insurance and gasoline. We’re here to provide critical services to keep them afloat.”
ECHO in Riverview is at 10509 Riverview Drive. Served are neighbors in ZIP codes covering Apollo Beach, Gibsonton, Lithia, Riverview, Ruskin and Sun City Center. The ECHO Riverview Resource Center is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Thursdays, 5 to 7 p.m. The ECHO Resource Center in Brandon is at 507 North Parsons Ave. For more, including for ECHO Thrift stores, visit www.echofl.org/.