Dr. Richard Carter of Kingsport is riding his bike from Mobile, Alabama to Ontario, following the Underground Railroad Route.  Dr. Carter is doing this to benefit Mountain Region Speech & Hearing.  You can follow along with him on his blog.

Mountain Region Speech & Hearing benefits people of all ages, regardless of ability to pay.  They help:

• Newborn infants who are unable to suck or swallow to obtain nourishment
• Infants, toddlers and children with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, cleft palate, hearing loss, spina bifida, reading disorders, language delay or other learning disabilities
• Adults who have suffered strokes, head injuries, hearing loss, progressive neurological disorders, stuttering, and voice disorders

BCS team members served lunch this week to the residents in the Keystone Community of Johnson City, mostly to children and their parents.  The Keystone Community Center serves lunch to the children and residents of Keystone daily while school is not in session.  We served about 100 people a delicious BBQ meal with all the sides plus dessert and drinks.  It was hot August day, but we were rewarded by the thank yous of kids that otherwise might not have had a good meal if not for us.  Projects such as this week make us (me, at least) realize that sometimes when we set out to impact the community, it is the people in the community that impact us.

From Kay McKenzie:

Each year, more than 1,000 children in our area are given new clothes, backpacks, toiletries and school supplies by a non-profit organization, New Clothes for Kids, Inc. This year, several employees of BCS were able to contribute their time along with the employee contribution of approximately 150 pairs of underclothes and socks for boys and girls of all ages. We served food, handed out the supplies, played games, and got to experience the excitement on these needy kids’ faces as they enjoyed this special gift. Unfortunately, not every child has a new backpack or new clothes for their first day of school but this organization makes that possible for more than 1,000 of the less fortunate in our area. We really enjoyed this opportunity to interact with and hopefully positively influence these children and are grateful for the opportunity to give something back to our community.

From Nikki Cole:

FunFest was created in the fall of 1980 as an effort to unite Kingsport residents, to help foster a belief that Kingsport is a caring community that is a good place to live and to work, and to provide the opportunity for residents to come together to fellowship with their neighbors. With all the many activities that FunFest has to offer there is definitely something for everyone! As one of our Kingsport Office’s 50 Weeks of Giving projects, we had several people volunteer to work shifts at the FunFest Store in the Kingsport Town Center. The store has various types of FunFest memorabilia, from T-shirts to coffee mugs. This is also where you can sign up for some of the activities FunFest has to offer as well as where you can purchase tickets to the bigger events that require tickets. As part of our volunteer duties, we straightened the merchandise, bagged for and acted as “gophers” to grab tickets for the cashiers. It was a fun time and a great opportunity to get to know other people in our community!

Our drive this week was to benefit Camp Ta-Pa-Win-Go in Elizabethton.  Camp Ta-Pa-Win-Go is operated by Children’s Bible Ministry and serves about 4,000 students every month.  Our drive collected much needed paper products for the Camp. 

Camp Ta-Pa-Win-Go’s mission is to “share the love of Jesus Christ and His wonderful plan of forgiveness of sin.”  Campers can earn a free week at Camp by completing 10 lessons mailed to them by Children’s Bible Ministry.