(Photo | Courtesy of Every Child Central Oregon)
It’s that time of year again! With the holiday season fast approaching, Every Child Central Oregon is calling on the community to participate in its annual gift drive. The drive collects gifts for both younger children and teens experiencing foster care.
This year’s drive will kick off with a celebration and fundraiser hosted in partnership with Spoken Moto and Wildflower Fashion Truck of Bend, which will be donating a portion of sales to Every Child Central Oregon (ECCO) through its “Truck Impact Night” program. Details are as follows:
Where: Spoken Moto/Wildflower Fashion Truck, 310 SW Industrial Way, Bend
When: Wednesday, November 17, 5-8pm
Why: Spoken Moto donating 10 percent of proceeds to ECCO, Wildflower Fashion Truck donating 50 percent of proceeds to ECCO
Everyone in the Central Oregon Community is invited to attend the gift-drive kickoff and fundraiser, which will highlight not just the need to give but the importance of shopping early this year, according to Melissa Williams, ECCO’s executive director. Toys may be harder to come by, especially the good ones due to the pandemic-related production shortages and delivery delays.
“In addition to encouraging early shopping, we’re requesting more teen gifts this year,” Williams says. “These gifts may not be as ‘fun’ to shop for, but things like electronics, video games, beauty products, clothes, athletic gear and wear and gift cards for all of the above are really important. We have over 50 Central Oregon teens experiencing foster care. And every year, they tend to get left out. We’d love to see more people stepping up to help these teens, so they know we see them, care about them and believe in them.”
While ECCO will welcome any and all gifts, Williams asks people to visit the MyNeighbor online portal, which catalogs gift requests and needs: thecontingent.microsoftcrmportals.com/eco/myneighbor/centraloregon
Unwrapped toys, goods and gift cards should be dropped unwrapped by December 9 at one of these partner-hosted drop-off locations:
- Bend: Journey Church • Bend Nazarene Church • Elite Medi Spa • Father’s House • Open Space Studios
- Redmond: Redmond Chamber of Commerce • Mountain View Church • Proust • Redmond Proficiency Academy (both locations) • Nessa Real Estate • First Interstate Bank
- Madras: LINC Madras • Ali Alire Realty • First Interstate Bank
- Prineville: Prineville Nazarene Church • First Interstate Bank
Of note, ECCO will happily accept financial donations, which can be used to fill gaps in giving and combined for larger, more expensive gifts like electronics or kids’ bikes.
