ECHO ‘Long Walk Home’ fundraiser happening Sept. 28
–On Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. ECHO will hold its 8th Annual Long Walk Home event. Long Walk Home is ECHO Homeless Shelter’s Awareness March representing the walk that people facing homelessness make every day in their search for permanent housing.
Participants will march from the ECHO campus to Atascadero’s landmark Rotunda Building in the Sunken Gardens and back to ECHO. All will enjoy music, a delicious BBQ lunch, A&W root beer floats, a prize drawing and tours of the ECHO campus. This is a great event for individuals, families and teams.
Adult Tickets are $25 per person, children’s tickets (under 18) are $10. Tickets can be purchased online at www.echoshelter.org, and are also available at the Atascadero Chamber of Commerce office.
ECHO currently operates a safe and secure overnight 50 bed shelter to meet the immediate needs of families and individuals who have become homeless. ECHO has received approval to expand to a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week facility and add 10 additional beds. The transition will begin in September and is expected to be complete within 6 months to a year. With a unique residency program, ECHO clients are provided case management services to assist them in securing a job and finding permanent and sustainable housing within three months of entering the shelter program. While enrolled in the program, clients learn life skills for employment, budgeting, healthier habits and more. The goal and the result of this practical support is the empowerment of residents to move in a positive direction while assisting them in acquiring the skills and services they need to become self-sustaining, including secure housing. More than 60-percent of people entering the program find permanent housing.
A force of 1,500 community volunteers provide ancillary support to run the shelter program and the meal program that serves as many as 80 dinners each night to shelter residents and the homeless population. ECHO also operates a shower program that provides hot showers three nights a week to anyone in need. ECHO supplies the homeless population all the necessary toiletries and offers access to clothing, shoes, blankets, sleeping bags and school supplies for children.
For more information, please visit our website at www.echoshelter.org.
