It's bright. It's blue. It's a parking meter for a cause.

Around this meter, by the interactive fountain on Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring, residents and representatives of different local organizations gathered for the official unveiling ceremony on Wednesday.

This donation meter is part of an initiative called "Change Matters Meters for the Homeless," a collaborative effort between the local government, businesses, and community organizations in Silver Spring.

The meter acts like a donation box so a passerby can put coins into, and the change will benefit the programs/services of the organization managing this initiative, Shepherd's Table—a Silver Spring based nonprofit providing assistance to the homeless and needy for the past 27 years.

At the ceremony, Jacki Coyle, Executive Director of Shepherd's Table, explained how this initiative came about: "One of our board members Judie Tucker…came to a board meeting and said they have these meters in Bethesda. Can we do something like that?"

And from there on, the nonprofit went to the different organizations, including Montgomery County- Silver Spring Regional Center, Montgomery County Parking Operations, Silver Spring Urban District Advisory Committee, Downtown Silver Spring/Petersoncos, Foulger Pratt and Argo Investments, Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, Bud Miller Associates, Southern Management Corporation and Signs by Tomorrow.

The ceremony featured brief speeches by Jennifer Nettles, Property Manager, Downtown Silver Spring, and Reemberto Rodriguez, Director, Silver Spring Regional Center, who joked that he had a 25-minute speech prepared but was going to bring it down to 15 seconds, where he thanked the different organizations for their support.

Of her organization's role in the initiative, Nettles said: "Our business sector viewed this as yet another great way to lead in promoting strong collaboration and giving back to the community."

Once Montgomery County's Parking Operations provided meters through the Silver Spring Regional Center, they were given a new look and scattered in strategic locations of Downtown Silver Spring—areas with high pedestrian traffic.

Eggspectation, a neighborhood restaurant, provided hot chocolate to the crowd that had gathered on a windy, chilly afternoon. Coyle took the opportunity to remind everyone of the need for such a program.

"It's so that on days like this, people who don't have a home…do have a home," she said.

In addition to the meter located near Ellsworth Dr. , other sibling meters can be spotted at (1) the bottom of the steps of Veteran's plaza leading to the new Civic Building entering from the Town Square parking garage, (2) at the top of the stairs that lead to the ice rink pavilion, and (3) next to the informational/directional marquee at the Georgia Avenue entrance to downtown Silver Spring.

Coyle also announced that "Discovery Communications have come on board and a meter will be placed at their location."

In any case, a parking meter in what is not a parking spot and that is bright blue in color shouldn't be hard to miss, right? "It's turquoise," corrects an elderly woman.