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Changing Lives ~ One Toll at a Time ECHOworks |
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Gary Dickens |
Video courtesy ECHOWorks. |
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If you were responsible to transport 135 adults from their homes to their workplaces and back again, every weekday, from the four corners of Loudoun's 520 square miles ~ and someone gave you a rather large check ~ what might you do with it? Well, ECHOworks, the Leesburg group who for 35 years has been training the disabled and finding productive jobs for them, decided that in 2009 that gift from "Drive for Charity" might be best used to purchase two passenger vans, one of which can be seen above. "Drive for Charity" selected ECHOworks again this year for another check and so far, they've purchased another passenger van to share the burden. They also plan to use some of the 2010 funds to help operate their 20 vehicle fleet, which covers over 900 miles each workday. |
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ECHOworks provides a variety of business services, both at their center in Leesburg and onsite at businesses throughout Loudoun. Here at their Leesburg plant, direct mail operations are in full swing. | |
Loudoun County Public Schools have strong educational programs for disabled students but what happens after graduation? From the first line of the ECHOworks mission statement: "The mission of ECHOworks is to provide jobs, a purpose, and a future for people with disabilities." ECHOworks fills a badly needed void, and Loudoun would be much "poorer" without them. ECHO stands for "Every Citizen has Opportunities" and as to "works", well they certainly do! Here's a partial listing of the businesses where they have employee teams: Target ~ REHAU, Inc. ~ U.S. Geological Survey ~ U.S. Department of Transportation Dynamic Details, Inc. ~ Federal Aviation Administration INOVA Loudoun ~ Loudoun County Government and Public Schools Prototype Productions, Inc. ~ Good Shepherd Thrift Store So then, just how cool is the Dulles Greenway's "Drive for Charity" concept? On one day during the year you pay to use a valuable service, and for the rest of the year your dollars reverberate throughout the community. Those three new vans ECHOworks bought with the Greenway's donation helps them provide valuable services to local businesses. That means more jobs for folks who might find it hard to find jobs. In turn, the businesses served become more competitive. The magification of your toll dollars on "Drive for Charity" day is just amazing. |
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ECHOworks also provides light assembly and high volume document scanning. Watch the video below for a better idea of their scope of services. |
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Contact: gary@leesburgmag.com |
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