ECHO Needs YOU: Focus on the Future

This year ECHO needs your help. We have many new people and are bursting at the seams. We need infrastructure and transportation so we can accommodate the need in Northern Virginia this year and we need three new buses to do so. Please help us:

• Establish the ECHO Academy, a program to develop vocational and daily living skills.
• Enhance ECHO’s aging transportation fleet to ensure participants get from their homes to the community.
• Expand outings to places like museums and gyms to provide community integration and interaction to day support participants.

Thank you for your support of all the individuals with disabilities we serve daily. We couldn’t do it without you!

Focus on the Future: Your Impact

• For every community partner that works with us to establish a new worksite, we are able to create jobs for 4-8 individuals with disabilities.
• Our transportation fleet consists of 37 vehicles and drives around 140 participants from their homes to their jobs every day, averaging over 29,000 miles a    month.
• When there is a 10% increase in gas prices, ECHO spends $100 more in gas each day to provide transportation for our participants.
• The conflicting Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act regulations could potentially impact around 150 jobs for people with disabilities.
• The majority of ECHO’s 34 L.I.F.E. Day Support Program participants have taken advantage of community activities. For instance, we participate in monthly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) activities, such as building an electrical circuit and taking part in robotics, put on by the Purcellville  Library.
• ECHO participants give back by volunteering weekly at Loudoun Hunger Relief’s food bank by stocking shelves and checking expiration and quality of bread. Participants also comprise the cleaning crew for Blossom and Bloom Thrift Shop, whose proceeds benefit people with disabilities.

Focus on the Future: Give Today

Please choose your kind donation:

• $55,000 — 1 passenger bus to transport participants
• $20,000 — 1 minivan to transport participants
• $10,000 — medical program renovation sponsorship
• $5,000 — 1 industry section sponsorship of the training and assessment lab to teach vocational skills
• $2,500 — 1 week of fuel for the entire ECHO fleet
• $1,000 — 1 month of tuition to the ECHO Training Academy
• $500 — 2 months of community outings for day support participants
• $250 — 1 months of maintenance for a bus
• $100 — become a friend of ECHO (and be our guest at events such as the ECHO Tennis Classic and the Tour de ECHO)
• Please note you can make this a recurring annual gift to ensure continued support of ECHO. You may also defer payments by making this pledge over a number of years. We appreciate your support!