Ribbon-Cutting for ECHO Client Service Center Today (Sept. 28)

It's been a long time coming, but Stacey Efaw, director of the Emergency Care Help Organization in Brandon, never doubted that the newly opened ECHO Client Service Center would, indeed, open its doors.

To celebrate that crowning achievement of a 25-year mission, volunteers, supporters and clients will be in attendance at the center's ribbon-cutting today, Sept. 28.

There, starting at 3 p.m., a town will celebrate another grand step forward in the ECHO undertaking, started as a community mission to feed and clothe neighors who fall on tough times because of emergency situations.

"My vision was to have a one-stop place in Brandon to help them here or to guide them to the exact place they need to go," Efaw said. "We can give them food and clothing but they have other needs and I felt at times that we were just shipping them off to some other place."

At the center, Efaw noted, clients can learn about and sign up electronically for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps; the Temporary Cash Assistance Program; Medicaid; and Healthy Kids insurance.

For more on the newly opened client center, see ECHO Grows With Client Service Center.