The Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center helps children 365 days a year. But around the holidays, it takes a few extra steps to help – and to reflect on those who make that help possible.
In the holiday realm, the center asks the community to donate unwrapped toys/gifts that it can then provide for kids ages newborn to 18.
Donations are being collected at two ECCAC centers: 401 McEwen Drive, Niceville, and 336 College Ave., DeFuniak Springs. Donors also can contact sabrina@eccac.org to schedule a dropoff.
Donations will be accepted through Dec. 22, but Dec. 3 is the preferred deadline so the gifts can get to families in a timely way. Each center will have a “Toy Room” where families and agency partners can shop, according to an agency news release.
“We love this time of the year when we can bring joy to our families and their children. Please help us stock our Toy Rooms so we can make the season brighter for those in need,” Julie Porterfield, the center’s CEO, said in prepared remarks.
Full details are available at https://eccac.org/. Scroll down to find the “Christmas Toy Drive” section.
Earlier this year, the center announced that it was one of 12 area nonprofits to receive a $225,000 donation from the Destin Charity Wine Auction Foundation.
“This will go a long way to help the children we serve at our three centers,” Porterfield said at the time in a news release. “Over the past 20 years, we have received a significant $3.24 million in DCWAF donations that have enabled us to put so many important programs in place to provide services to the children at no cost. We are humbled and grateful to DCWAF for all they have done for children in Northwest Florida for 20 years now.”
According to its published materials, the center “brings many organizations together in a child-friendly environment so the judicial and healing process can be easier for the children who are victims of abuse or neglect.”
Also, the center’s Child Safety Matters program has helped thousands of students in Okaloosa and Walton counties.
“Across all of ECCAC’s programs, more than 25,000 children were served in 2024,” the center noted in a news release.
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center continues its mission
Reporting by Jim Ross, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
