Saltville Gives Back

07/27/2026

A huge thanks to all our awesome Saltville Gives Back volunteers who made our event a success!

07/26/2026

SALTVILLE, Va. (July 27, 2026) — More than 250 children from Saltville and Rich Valley are heading back to school better prepared thanks to the generosity of local churches, businesses, organizations, and volunteers who came together for the 18th annual Saltville Gives Back (SGB) Back-to-School Bash. Held Saturday under sunny skies following weeks of rain, the annual event provided children with backpacks filled with school supplies.

The Saltville Gives Back Committee is thankful to God for His many blessings, giving Him all the praise for the success of the event. Saltville Gives Back is a collaborative effort among local churches, businesses, and the Town of Saltville to support children and teens in the community. Organizers are grateful for the overwhelming support that has helped sustain the program for nearly two decades.

The Town of Saltville hosted the event at the Town Commons and opened the Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool for children to enjoy. The Gideons International distributed free New Testaments, Lighthouse Baptist Church served Hungry Mother Grill chili dogs, and Christian Faith Ministries offered complimentary snow cones to help families stay cool during the afternoon.

Additional community partners also played key roles in the event. Deck the Halls Photography, owned by Tonya Hall, photographed the festivities, while the Saltville Public Library distributed books purchased by the Friends of the Saltville Library. Communities in Schools provided additional school supplies, water bottles filled with goodies, and information about its programs. Northwood Middle School seventh-grader Morgan Frye designed the signs displayed at the backpack distribution tables. Friends Community Church once again provided its facility for volunteers to assemble backpacks before the event.

This year's Back-to-School Bash also expanded its services through a partnership with Humana, which offered free back-to-school physicals and immunizations, as well as free and low-cost sports physicals. Humana also helped coordinate free haircuts and our local Salty Barber also participated, invited Feeding Southwest Virginia and several community organizations to provide valuable resources for local families.

SBG organizers 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: Cardwell Town Freewill Baptist Church, Chatham Hill First Church of God, Christian Faith Ministries, First Christian Church Allison Gap, First Church of God Broadford, Freedom Baptist Church, Friends Community Church, the Gideons International Smyth County Camp, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church, Midway Chapel Church, Mount Pleasant Union Church, New Cove United Methodist Church, Quarry 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, and Hungry Mother Grill and Grocery.

Individuals Who Donated: Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Tonya Hall, Teresa Harris, Melinda Wimmer, Tracy Prater, and K.K. Robbins.

We thank the Town of Saltville, the Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool, the Saltville Progress, and the Saltville Police Department for their continued partnership over the years.

Saltville Gives Back organizers encourage anyone interested in volunteering or contributing to next year's Back-to-School Bash to contact the committee at 276-780-0669. Committee members include Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Gabe Frye, Ethan Frye, Patty Frye, Tonya Hall, Jamie Halsey, Teresa Harris, and Iris Worley.

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.

07/29/2024

Saltville Gives Back

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 sixteenth 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 263 backpacks filled with school supplies to distribute to the children, all of which were given out at the event.

We are thankful for our caring community that always comes together to support this project. The Town of Saltville provided the Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool for the 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 chips and “Hungry Mother Grill” chili dogs, and Christian Faith Ministries contributed yummy snow cones. Deck the Halls Photography (Tonya Hall) was the event photographer, and Woody Routh came to our rescue and ran the sound system for our talent contest. Morgan Frye, a Saltville Elementary School fifth grader, did a wonderful job designing the signs used on the event 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 had very talented contestants in our “Saltville Has Talent Contest”: Karley Kestner, 1st Place, singing “Hallelujah”; Morgan Frye, 2nd Place, singing “I Saw the Light”; Charlee and Delilah Jennings, 3rd Place, singing “Lucky”; and Alexa Phibbs, 4th Place, singing “In the Name of Love”. We also appreciate Gabe Frye for doing an amazing job emceeing the event, our talent contest judges, and “Simplicity Dance Team” from Chilhowie for performing while the judges tallied their votes.

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 in our community:

Ministries Who Donated: Allison Gap First Church of God, Cardwell Town Freewill Baptist Church, Christian Faith Ministries, First Christian Church Allison Gap, First Church of God Broadford, 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, His Grace Christian Gifts, and Hungry Mother Grill and Grocery.

Individuals Who Donated: Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Vicki Frye, Teresa Harris, Tracy McGuire, K.K. Robbins, and the Wimmers.

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 276-496-7452 or any committee member. Committee members are Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Patty Frye, Tonya Hall, Jamie Halsey, Teresa Harris, Ked Johnson, Allana Maiden, Mike Maiden, Ann Perkins, Keriauna Perkins, Maria Perkins, Susan Shaffer, Mary Vipperman, and Iris Worley.

41 new items added to shared album

07/28/2024

Sharing a few pictures with everyone! Saltville Gives Back 2024 another successful year!

07/16/2024

Saltville Gives Back will be sponsoring a Chilhowie dance group for our event entertainment. They will not be entering the Saltville Has Talent Contest, so talent participants please do not be nervous! ❤️

06/26/2024

If you know anyone interested in the Saltville Gives Back "Saltville Has Talent Contest" please share the attached.

06/26/2024

07/30/2023

Saltville Gives Back 2023
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 fifteenth annual Back-to-School Bash. 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 250 backpacks filled with school supplies to distribute.

As the saying goes, it takes a village, and we are truly thankful for our caring community that always comes together to support this event. Huge thanks go out again this year to Friends Community Church for allowing us the use of their facility for assembling the school supplies, and because of the rainy weather, the use of their church during the actual event. The Gideons handed out New Testaments; Hungry Mother Grill and Grocery donated all the hotdogs and awesome chili which was served by Lighthouse Baptist Church and the Church of the Nazarene; Christian Faith Ministries contributed yummy snow cones; and Eva Vipperman sewed cool pencil pouches. Allisons Gap First Church of God collected new underwear, socks, and hygiene items to distribute. The Friends of the Saltville Branch of the Smyth County Library provided free books that were given to the children during the event. Deck the Halls Photography (Grady and Tonya Hall) were the event photographers, and their His Grace Christian Store designed and donated t-shirts for the volunteers. We are also very appreciative of nine-year old Morgan Frye’s talent and hard work designing the signs used on the event tables.

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 making a difference in our community:

Ministries Donated – Allison Gap First Church of God, Allison Gap First Christian Church, Cardwell Town Freewill Baptist Church, Chatham Hill First Church of God, Christian Faith Ministries, First Church of God of Broadford, Freedom Baptist Church, Friends Community Church, the Gideons International Smyth County Camp, Lighthouse Baptist Church, Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church, McCready United Methodist Church, Mount Pleasant Union Church, New Cove United Methodist Church, Quarry Methodist Church, Ridgedale Methodist Church, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, and Saltville Church of the Nazarene.

Businesses Donated – His Grace Christian Store, Hungry Mother Grill and Grocery, K-VA-T Food City, Saltville Bank of Marion, Saltville Food Country, and Presnell & Henry Properties who own and run the new businesses on Main Street.

Individuals Donated – Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Tonya Hall, Eva Vipperman, and Mary Vipperman.

We thank the Town of Saltville, Saltville’s Hardy Roberts Memorial Wave Pool (which unfortunately we did not get to use this year because of the weather), 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 contact Debbie Barrett at 276-496-7452, or any committee member. Committee members include Suzanne Abramson, Debbie Barrett, Patty Frye, Tonya and Grady Hall, Teresa Harris, Ked Johnson, Allana Maiden, Mike Maiden, Ann Perkins, Susan Shaffer, Mary Vipperman, and Iris Worley.