Support ‘Adopt an ECCO Senior’ program

Let me introduce you to our neighbor, Nathan, a local high school graduate in the class of 2021. This fall, Nathan will begin his freshman year at Claflin University with a goal to one day become a pediatrician.

 

While most graduating seniors are dreaming of starting this new journey, decorating their dorm, joining clubs, and making new friends, Nathan is focusing on more pressing needs facing him and his family.

 

When discussing this next big step, Nathan said that he’s struggling with confidence — not from being unprepared or nervous about his classes — but because he knows his family cannot purchase the supplies needed for his first semester at college.

 

As a community, together we can help Nathan.

 

Last year, East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO) launched the Adopt an ECCO Senior program, designed to address the immediate needs of graduating high school seniors entering into college, the military, or straight into a career. With this community’s help, we adopted and provided assistance to 11 graduates last school year.

 

Through a service model including assistance, guidance, and resources, ECCO provides hope to our local neighbors facing a wide array of life’s challenges. We believe hope is a source of energy that helps keep people moving forward and embracing opportunities. This program is just one of the many ways we are providing assistance to the community.

 

With the help of guidance counselors at East Cooper high schools, we’ve identified 14 local high school students for this year’s program. Each is attending in-state and out-of-state universities – with a range of needs from technology to financial. To give each student more flexibility to purchase items for their rooms, we’ve updated our wish list this year to include additional gift cards. Below, you’ll find two easy ways to partner with ECCO in this special program and meet the needs of these graduating seniors:

 

Amazon Wish list 

(a.co/bklFxOT)

 

We’ve compiled our students’ needs into one large list using Amazon. Once purchased, each item will be shipped directly to ECCO for our staff to distribute to our adopted seniors.

 

Donate Online 

(eccocharleston.org)

 

Monetary donations can help ECCO make a direct impact and help fill in the gaps for these students. When making your donation online, please be sure to write “Adopt a Senior” in the comment box.

 

Help ECCO reduce Nathan’s worries by providing the necessary tools to ensure his success (and 13 other local graduates) in this next big step. If you have any questions about this program or how you can get involved at ECCO, please feel free to contact me at 843-416-7120 or lholst@eccocharleston.org. 

 

Thank you for your continued support of ECCO and neighbors like Nathan, in their time of need.

 

Lyndsi Holst is client navigator and ADP coordinator for East Cooper Community Outreach.