Lowell Kilday is a volunteer counselor at the Ecumenical Community for Helping Others (ECHO) in Springfield and likes to see the clients come in and pick out clothing from the charity's supplies that suits the individual, instead of giving them a generic outfit.
"They (ECHO) do everything they can to provide assistance with dignity," he said.
As the golf carts rolled out of the starting gates on Monday, July 19, at Springfield Country Club for the second annual benefit tournament for ECHO, the goal of helping others was on everyone's mind. ECHO is a nonprofit, all-volunteer, private agency whose purpose is to help people in need in Springfield and Burke.
A big part of the dignity Kilday was referring to concerns dealing with each family's situation with privacy, and the goal of the golf tournament was to raise funds for ECHO's expansion, providing more counseling rooms and storage space for the organization. It will double the size of the charity's space.
"We are really crowded," said Kilday. "Some of the clients, when talking about their situation, can be very emotional."
Dave and Chris Page helped out around Christmas, and the smiles were what Dave Page remembered. He was one of the 108 golfers who showed up for the benefit.
"Seeing the kids respond, it's so neat," Page said.
Kathy Marchetti, an ECHO volunteer and an organizer of the golf tournament, has witnessed the day-to-day struggle of some Springfield families.
"Some families just make it," Marchetti said. "Emergencies put them in the hole. It's a tough area to work in."
IN FY ‘03, ECHO provided 118,121 pounds of food, 3,240 bags of clothing and $105,394 in monetary assistance for over 1,100 families. Volunteers worked closely with several post offices in the area on food drives, and with various Boy and Girl Scout groups.
"Where we interview clients is so tiny," Marchetti said of the charity's current home. "That [privacy] is our main objective."
ECHO started serving the Springfield community in 1968, operating out of the basement of area churches. It is now located in its own building next to Garfield Elementary School in central Springfield, but ECHO's needs have outgrown its home. The expansion will include an addition on the side and front of the current building, leaving the loading dock the same.
ECHO sponsors Meals-on-Wheels programs and offers food, clothing, school supplies, small appliances and household items to those in need.
Springfield Country Club supports one charity a year and picked ECHO for the second year in a row. Robbins-Gioia and the Rooney Group companies were silver contributors at the tournament, each giving $2,500.
Del. Dave Albo (R-42nd) was part of the tournament and is a supporter of the program. Albo said that a particular program like ECHO is better than letting the government handle the needy.
"You take care of more poor people this way than you do with government programs," Albo said.
At the Virginia General Assembly next January, Albo plans to submit a non-state-agency appropriation bill, which is a way to get matching state funding for ECHO's expansion.