ECHO Wins $15,000 Refurbished Office Furniture Online Contest

"Brandon Food and Clothing pantry wins two honors" as seen in the St. Petersburg Times.

Press Release

Brandon Food Pantry Wins $15,000 Office Remodel Contest from Refurbished Office Furniture and Clear Channel

ECHO wins $15,000 online contest just before the Thanksgiving Holiday.

BRANDON, FL – The Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), a Brandon charity food pantry, has won a $15,000 Extreme Office Makeover from Refurbished Office Furniture (ROF), the groups announced today.  ECHO  claimed the grand prize after receiving over 1,000 online votes on the ClearChannel contest website.

Refurbished Office Furniture and ClearChannel radio affiliate,  970 WFLA, hosted the contest to award a $15,000 office makeover to one Tampa Bay Charity.  A host of charities applied, with five selected to be a part of the online voting:  ECHO,  United Cerebral Palsy, Greater Palm River Pointe CDC, Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center, and the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association.

Each charity was asked to promote daily voting to the community -- and the response was overwhelming.  ECHO launched a full-scale social media event throughout the duration of the contest.  Using their newly revamped website, email,  facebook and twitter pages, ECHO reminded the community to vote daily.

“We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year!  We are ecstatic that our area showed so much support for this contest.  The volunteers are all so excited -- We can't wait to get started! ” said Stacey Efaw, Executive Director of the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO) of Brandon.

Ms. Efaw added, “We are so thankful to have great local organizations such as Refurbished Office Furniture and WFLA 970 support local charities in this way.  We are pleased to provide the clients and our volunteers with an improved space to serve to local families!"

In a surprise turn, Refurbished Office Furniture also granted $3000 to the other four participating charities to continue their mission.  These five Tampa Bay Charities certainly have much to be thankful for just before the holidays!

About ECHO: The Emergency Care Help Organization provides immediate relief in the forms of food, clothing and household items to those residents of the greater Brandon area that have experienced a recent emergency. Since its inception in 1987, ECHO has assisted over 109,000 individuals, over half of whom were children, with the basic life necessities. When families experience an unexpected emergency they are often faced with the decision paying the bills or buying food for their families.

For more information about ECHO of Brandon or the Refurbished Office Furniture Non-Profit Makeover, contact Stacey Efaw at 813-685-0935 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

# # #