The Episcopal Center for Children Raises Funds Online on Thursday, June 8th as Part of DoMore24, a 24-hour Day of Giving

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 2, 2017

WASHINGTON – The Episcopal Center for Children, a school and treatment center for children with special needs, is raising funds for art, movement, occupational and recreational therapies during Do More 24 on June 8, a 24-hour day of giving organized by the United Way of the National Capital Area.

“We are raising funds to support art, movement, occupational and recreational therapies. A gift of just $24 or $48 can make a big difference in the life of a child with special needs,” said Dodd White, president and CEO of the Center.

“These therapies help our students express themselves, encourage them to develop motor skills, and let them see the world as it can be. For a child with special needs, these therapies can make a huge difference in their progress,” said White. Students at the school are ages 5-14 and in grades K-8. They are placed at the Center by area school districts throughout D.C., Maryland and Virginia for special education and treatment.

You can give online to the Center on June 8. To help the Center compete for a $1,000 bonus prize, donors are encouraged to give at lunchtime between 12pm and 2pm, but you can give now or at any time on June 8. Follow the campaign on Twitter and Facebook on hashtags #ECCofDC and #DoMore24.

You can show your support and have a little fun by posting a “selfie for good” on June 8. Take a selfie while showing a DoMore24 sign (your computer screen will work in the background at domore24.org) and hashtag #ECCofDC and #DoMore24 on Twitter when you post. Please use a non-protected Twitter handle so we can see it!

A gift of $24 will touch a child with special needs through art. A $24 donation will provide a therapy mask, child-safe paint, multicultural skin tone crayons, and clay for a child for an art therapy session. Our students benefit from touching, molding and expressing themselves through art. Your donation literally touches them!

A gift of $48 will support a focus on learning through the ultimate fidget spinner set. A $48 donation will provide the ultimate fidget set for our occupational therapy program – a set of dozen fidgets! Fidgets are therapeutic tools that keep busy little hands occupied. Fidgets help children work out excess energy and focus in class. We use up a HUGE supply of fidgets every month!

A gift of $124 will get kids into sand and life skills. A $124 donation will provide portable sand tables we can use with our students to help them develop motor skills, as well as social development. As students dig out miniatures from the sand, they develop skills that are useful for the classroom. Your gift can help a child practice persistence and patience, as well as fine motor skills.

A gift of $240 will fund movement and music that heals. A $240 donation provides music and recreation therapy for an hour. It also provides instruments, dance batons, flex cones, sensory balls, bouncy lily pads, balancing poles and music for the class. Students in this program develop social skills and learn how to listen to and control their bodies.

About the Episcopal Center for Children
The Episcopal Center for Children is a nonprofit, nondenominational school and treatment program for children contending with emotional challenges from the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Accredited by the Joint Commission, the Center serves children who are 5-14 years old in grades K-8. The goal of the Center’s treatment, therapeutic milieu, and individualized special education program is to empower each child to function productively within his or her family and community. Building on strengths within children, the Center partners with families in treatment and focuses on enabling its students to access and become their best possible selves. More information is available at eccofdc.org and on Twitter and Facebook @ECCofDC.

Media contact: Ami Neiberger-Miller, 703.887.4877, [email protected].