East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO) is a faith based community supported organization dedicated to helping individuals and families in need. Many programs and services are offered, including food and clothing assistance, as well as dental and medical care in partnership with other organizations and agencies. ECCO is, at its core, a compassionate organization of neighbors helping neighbors.

Description:
With a small staff and over 100 volunteers, ECCO's services and programs are offered at no charge and include but are not limited to...an emergency food pantry, emergency financial assistance for utilities, housing and other economic needs; medical outreach to assist client suffering from chronic illness to obtain needed prescription medicines; the operation of an emergency dental clinic, and providing donated household furnishings and clothing, and client referral services to other organizations and agencies in the greater Charleston area. A number of these organizations are partnering with ECCO at its facility to center services, and reduce redundancy and cost.

History:
East Cooper Community Outreach began as a disaster relief effort in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and became a permanent 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization in 1990. The devastation of Hugo exposed a world that many in the community had not fathomed; a subculture of poverty, substandard housing, lack of access to health care, jobs and transportation in the midst of the rising prosperity of the East Cooper area. The founding members of ECCO wanted to ensure that this fledgling organization become a community supported agency.

Today, many area churches, civic organizations, businesses, foundations, and most importantly individual citizens, provide the material, financial and human resources that make it possible for ECCO to carry out its mission of serving people in distressed circumstances. ECCO primarily serves Charleston County east of the Cooper River to the Santee Basin (south of Georgetown, SC). However, services and programs can reach others in the metro Charleston area primarily through the Dental Clinic and Med-I-Assist prescription medicine and other assistance programs.

Contact people:

Jack Little, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Greg Nevers, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (843) 849-0943

Address:

1145 Six Mile Rd. Mt. Pleasant, SC 29466 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.eccocharleston.org

Directions:

We are located across the street from Laing Middle School and next door to Goodwill. Six Mile Rd is just North of the Isle of Palms connector (RT 517) and just South of Boone Hall Plantation off of Route 17N.   Nearest Bus Stop: Towne Center, 4 miles minute walk