30 Volunteer Teams Help 20+ Charities in Kingsport

Hundreds of volunteers fanned out across Tennessee's Tri-Cities on Saturday, turning one spring morning into a wave of kindness for local nonprofits.

About 30 volunteer teams gathered at First Baptist Church Kingsport for a quick breakfast before heading to more than 20 local organizations. Their destinations included Second Harvest Food Bank, Kitchen of Hope, Eden's Vista Farm, and Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a nonprofit that builds beds for children in need.

The Acts of Love event connects people who want to help with organizations that need it most. This year's turnout gave struggling charities the workforce they've been waiting for.

Scott Barnicki, owner of Eden's Vista Farm, welcomed three volunteer groups to his property on Saturday. "It's an incredible amount of work putting all this together," Barnicki said. "Having people that are dedicated and want to help is very useful."

Everything grown at Eden's Vista goes directly to children's charities. The more volunteers can plant and harvest, the more food reaches kids who need it most.

The Ripple Effect

The beauty of events like Acts of Love is how they multiply good across a community. When volunteers spend their Saturday morning at a food bank, they're not just sorting cans. They're helping that food bank serve more families, which means better nutrition for children, which means better focus in school, which means brighter futures.

When teams show up at a farm that feeds children's charities, they're planting seeds that will become meals months from now. When they build beds with Sleep in Heavenly Peace, they're giving kids their first good night's sleep, which changes everything about how they show up to life the next day.

First Baptist Church Kingsport organized the event, but the impact reaches far beyond any single congregation. It's neighbors helping neighbors, strangers becoming friends, and a whole region deciding that Saturday morning is better spent together than apart.

The volunteers didn't just fill a need on Saturday. They showed every nonprofit in the Tri-Cities that their community sees them, values their work, and wants to be part of the solution.