From building a playground for a low-income district to completing home projects for couples experiencing hardship, students participating in the Big Event have made a lasting impact on the Hammond community.
Individuals and student organizations once again have the opportunity to sign up for the largest annual community service project on campus, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, March 28.
“Our biggest goal this year is to pick up more job sites at public schools,” said Zachary Whitehead, senior communication major and codirector for the Big Event. “We only had one school sign up last year, and I know public school systems are always in a strain for money, so there are always projects that are put to the side that we could literally take care of in a weekend.”
Local businesses, households and public agencies may request volunteers to be sent to complete a needed job. Many students participate each year, so there are few jobs that cannot be tackled during the Big Event. However, the use of power tools by volunteers is prohibited.
Students may sign up as individually or in teams of 10 or fewer. The teams will then be assigned to a job site.
The Big Event has earned Southeastern a spot on the President’s Higher Education Honor Roll for Community Service for four consecutive years, which according to the nationalservice.gov website, “highlights the role colleges and universities play in solving community challenges and as a result, more students are likely to pursue a lifelong path of civic engagement that achieves meaningful and measurable outcomes in the communities they serve.”
This year’s Big Event co-directors Whitehead and senior sports management major Ivy Gonzales recounted their most memorable experiences in serving the community through this project.
“My first year, there was a playground that we worked at,” said Whitehead. “They were so surprised at how many of us showed up. They were fighting with some state codes, so they didn’t have the manual labor to build the playground. It was simple: we drove in some timber, raised it up and just shoveled mulch into there, but these people had tears in their eyes at the end of the day. They were so grateful that college students would take four hours out of their Saturday to do something for them.”
Last year, an elderly Southeastern alumnus requested volunteers to tear down and rebuild his fence. The man suffered a stroke two years prior and had difficulty completing the task himself.
“The story he told us was moving, how he cared for Southeastern and what he’s going through right now,” said Gonzales. “It was a privilege to give a helping hand to someone who needed it.”
Applications to request an assignment or to sign up as a volunteer are available on the Southeastern website through the Student Government Association’s page.
In an effort to recruit more volunteers, the SGA will be setting up tables in the Student Union and providing computers to assist students with the sign-up process. SGA members are currently brainstorming incentives to increase participation, according to Whitehead. Ideas include a crawfish boil, barbecue or afterparty.
Though March 14 is currently the given date for the Big Event, the date is subject to change. Contact Gonzales or Whitehead at [email protected] or [email protected] for more information.