By Melissa Trotman
Staff Writer
Individual students and various groups from different organizations met on the drill field at 9 a.m. last Saturday to pick up tools and receive their jobsite assignments, with the collective goal of giving back to the community.
Around 1600 people and almost 100 organizations participated in The Big Event, an SGA-sponsored community-wide service project. The participating organizations included fraternities, sororities, Circle K, women’s club basketball, Black Student Alliance, Residence Hall Federation, National Residence Hall Honorary and other groups from a wide variety of organizations on campus. Nearly 200 jobs were completed in Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Dublin, Pembroke, Radford and Pearisburg and some even took place on campus.
There were many jobs to do; most lasted from 3 to 4 hours, and consisted of yard work, picking up litter, building fences, cleaning and painting houses and washing windows, to name a few. SGA Community Outreach Co-Chair Dawn South, junior communication and political science double major, helped organize the community projects.
“I was in charge of getting all the jobs. I really enjoyed getting to talk to the people in the community and see how thankful they are to have the students come out and help. The goal of The Big Event is to give back to the community.”
Electrical engineering major Steve Fairneny went to St. Mary’s Church with Beta Theta Pi and raked leaves and mulched.
Leland Clelland and Kiel Castle, freshmen university studies majors, participated by going to a small mobile home park and tearing out a floor in one of the trailers. Another group put in a new one when they were finished.
“I like doing hands-on work and I enjoyed helping out the local community,” Clelland said.
They heard about The Big Event through their resident advisor and Castle was glad he participated with a group of 10 friends.
“I liked the teamwork everyone put in. It was fun,” he said.
Kristina Harrison, freshman finance and history major, is a community outreach committee member for the SGA. On Saturday, she checked people in and registered them for The Big Event.
Christopher Bowns, freshman computer science major, did landscaping, yard work and cleaned up part of a forest with a group of friends and some fraternity members from Theta Xi. June Garrett, sophomore human, nutrition, foods and exercise major, and Kristen Phillips, sophomore psychology and sociology major, volunteered and ended up at Sharon Hartline’s house in Blacksburg, mulching, raking leaves and doing general yard work.
Hartline is a professor at Radford University, and was very grateful for the help.
“Some people wish for someone to knock on their door and offer them a cruise, but my one wish is for someone to knock on my door and offer to help me out … and then someone came and asked if I needed any help around the house,” she said. “I thought it was a good way to get involved with the town aside from Tech, and I think it helped reinforce a positive image of Tech students to the rest of the community.”
Phillips had fun as well.
“It was so much fun spending the day playing in someone else's yard with good friends for a good cause," she said.
Rachel Leonard, freshman biology major and a member of Circle K, volunteered at Margaret Beeks Elementary School with 12 other members, who mulched the entire playground.
“I just like helping others, hence why I’m involved in Circle K, and the people I volunteered with are just amazing and fun to be around, so they make any project just full of laughter and fun,” said Adrienne Ward, freshman university studies major.
Ward volunteered with a group of about 20 people comprised of Residence Hall Federation and National Residence Hall Honorary members who were sent to Blacksburg Community Gardens to weed, pick up trash and fix up the pathways.
“The best part was getting to bond with the group and see the difference we made,” she said.
All in all, The Big Event was a big success for both the community and the volunteers.
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