07/28/2025
Saltville Gives Back (SGB) is a collaborative effort between our local churches, businesses, and the Town of Saltville to support our children and teens residing in Saltville and Rich Valley. The Committee would first like to thank God and give Him all the praise for the success of our seventeenth annual Back-to-School Bash and for the beautiful day we had in between all the recent rains. We would like to thank the volunteers and all who participated in Saturday's event where, thanks to the generous donations of our churches, businesses, and individuals, we had a total of 257 backpacks filled with school supplies and 5 supply bags to distribute to the children, all of which were given out.
We are thankful for our caring community that always comes together to support this project. We even had one traveler just passing through our little town who volunteered and did a lot of the heavy lifting. The Town of Saltville provided the Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool for children to enjoy and allowed us the use of the Town Commons for the distribution of the bookbags. The Gideons gave out New Testaments, Lighthouse Baptist served “Hungry Mother Grill” chili dogs, Christian Faith Ministries contributed yummy snow cones which were very much appreciated on this very hot day and Deck the Halls Photography was the event photographer. The Saltville Public Library provided books which were bought by the Friends of the Saltville Library. Communities in Schools joined us this year and provided the chips and information on their organization. Morgan Frye, a Northwood Middle School sixth grader, did a wonderful job designing the signs used on the bookbag tables. Huge thanks go out to Friends Community Church for allowing us the use of their facility once again for the assembling of the school supplies.
We would like to thank all the following for their monetary donations and contributions, which made this event possible. We truly appreciate your participation and support in helping us make a positive impact on our community:
Ministries Who Donated: Allison Gap First Church of God, Broadford First Church of God, Cardwell Town Freewill Baptist Church, Chatham Hill First Church of God, Christian Faith Ministries, First Christian Church Allison Gap, Freedom Baptist Church, Friends Community Church, the Gideons International Smyth County Camp, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church, Madam Russell Memorial United Methodist Church, Mount Pleasant Union Church, New Cove United Methodist Church, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Saltville Church of the Nazarene.
Businesses Who Donated: Saltville Bank of Marion, Saltville Food Country, K-VA-T Food City, Hungry Mother Grill and Grocery, and Communities in School.
Individuals Who Donated: Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Tonya Hall, Teresa Harris, Tanya Harrison, and the Ladies Retreat.
We thank the Town of Saltville, Saltville’s Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool, the Saltville Progress, and the Police Department for working with us over the years on this event. We truly appreciate your support.
If anyone would like to join us in our Back-to-School Bash next year or would like to donate, please call 276-780-0669 or any committee member. Committee members are Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Gabe Frye, Ethan Frye, Patty Frye, Tonya Hall, Jamie Halsey, Teresa Harris, Ked Johnson, Mike Maiden, Ann Perkins, Susan Shaffer, Jessica Surber, Mary Vipperman, Melinda Wimmer, and Iris Worley.
