The Big Event staff filled a rainy Sunday afternoon as they dedicated their time and efforts to The Big Event’s fall service project, The Mini Event. With a not-so-mini event in March, The Mini Event serves as a trial run for the organization’s much larger-scale spring project.
The Big Event is a Saturday in the spring in which Auburn student volunteers exchange a restful Saturday morning for a few hours of service work at Auburn residents’ homes. Last year, The Big Event had over 2,000 student volunteers who served at approximately 200 job sites throughout the Auburn and Opelika area.
“The Mini Event gives us practice for what The Big Event actually is,” said Claire Kidd. “It’d be hard to train people without them experiencing what happens on the day of The Big Event. It’s good to show our people what it’s like on a smaller scale.”
The Mini Event focused on ten job site and is the work intended to prepare The Big Event leaders, project
Project coordinators are the leaders at the job sites on the day of The Big Event. They are the contact between the homeowners served and The Big Event’s command center and are instrumental in ensuring all work at the job sites is run smoothly.
“Without the project coordinators, there’s no way we’d be able to do The Big Event,” said The Big Event Chief of Staff Caroline Norris. “Project coordinators are also especially critical because they’re the people the community sees.”
In addition to project coordinators and committee members, The Mini Event’s volunteer base was opened to Student Activity Programs on campus.
“It’s a way for other students who aren’t involved in The Big Event to serve the community in one afternoon,” Norris said. “It’s also a great way for us to teach ourselves how it’s going to be so on the day of The Big Event we understand, we’ve been there before, and we can do it better.”
No advertising is done for The Mini Event as it serves homeowners who have been served through The Big Event in previous years. The Big Event itself is not need-based, and any homeowner in the community can apply to be served.
Freshman coordinator Isabel Yarborough said she felt the event prepared her and made her feel more aware of what to expect in the spring.
“It was a way for the project coordinators and all the committees to figure out what’s going to happen and what we need to be doing.” said freshman project coordinator Emma Rich. “It helped in learning how to lead people, just seeing how our day’s going to go, figuring out how to work with homeowners, and making sure they’re happy with what we’re able to provide for them.”
Kidd said The Big Event will be on March 3rd, and any Auburn student who wishes to get involved is welcome.
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