Area Businesses Join Together to Clothe the Cold

As a winter chill returns to Northern Virginia, businesses from across the Greater Springfield area have stepped up to provide winter outerwear for area residents in need.

The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s 12th annual winter outerwear campaign will aid area residents served by one of the Chamber’s non-profit members, ECHO – Ecumenical Community Helping Others, as it has in years past.

“Living here in the Greater Springfield area is a blessing we often take for granted,” said Nevin Gibson, chair of the Chamber’s Community Affairs Committee, which organized the drive. “It is difficult for us to imagine families that are less fortunate to the point they cannot even afford the basics.

“The Community Affairs Committee has been proud to work with ECHO to help local families. Our winter outerwear drive assists our neighbors who find themselves in economic straits during the harshest months of the year.”

ECHO, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to assisting people in need, provides temporary or emergency assistance, including food, clothing, household items, and financial support to about 1,000 families a year. 

Businesses will serve as collection locations through December 14. As boxes fill, dedicated volunteers from ECHO retrieve items and prepare them for distribution to people in need in our community.

The collection locations will accept winter outerwear, including new winter hats, new scarves and gloves for all ages, new children’s coats, and clean, gently-used blankets. This year there’s a special need for coats, especially in children’s sizes infant through 16 and adult plus sizes. 

Participating locations include:

ACE Plum Center

Braddock District Supervisor

CALIBRE

Courtyard by Marriott

Flowers n Ferns

Hard Times Café Springfield

Hilton Springfield

Lee District Supervisor

NOVA Medical Education Campus

NOVA Pediatrics

RE/MAX Allegiance – Burke Centre

RE/MAX Allegiance – Franconia

Sandy Spring Bank

Title Boxing Club Springfield

Union First Market Bank-West Springfield

Walker’s Grille

For more information call the Chamber office, 703-866-3500.