Something big is coming.
This year's Big Event, sponsored by Student Government Association and taking place Saturday, boasts record numbers of volunteers and jobsites.
"The Big Event is Auburn University SGA's service day, sponsored once a year in the spring," said Kyla Wilkinson, director and sophomore in biomedical sciences. "This will be our 10th annual event. This year we will be putting over 3,000 students to work at almost 250 job sites."
Wilkinson said this has been a year of growth and expansion for the Big Event.
"We continued to expand into the school system," she said. "We increased involvement by almost 800 volunteers and 50 job sites."
Patrick Dreher, sophomore in landscape design, serves as a Big Event assistant director.
"There were a lot of little things that we wanted to improve on, such as organization," Dreher said. "My committee now has two directors in charge of job sites and tools."
Robert Powers, also an assistant director for the Big Event and sophomore in building science, said the job sites this year consist mainly of simple yard work.
Earlier in the year, community residents applied to have a team work at their house.
"We sent out an application in the water bill, so pretty much everyone in Auburn, Opelika and Notasulga gets an application," Dreher said.
Unlike other outreach projects, Big Event is not a need-based service project, and anyone can apply.
"It's just a way for us to say thank you to the community for being a great place to live," Powers said. "It's not need-based. If you apply, pretty much everyone who applies will have volunteers at their house. It's not need-based, but we do have a lot of people who are in need."
Wilkinson said the Big Event will be a way to give back to a community that has given students a great place to live and go to school.
"As an Auburn student, we love this community we live in so much, for more than just football," she said.
"We love Auburn because of the Auburn spirit and the people we surround ourselves with while we study here. This is our chance to thank them for putting up with us."
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