This past Saturday was Bloomsburg University’s 10th annual “The Big Event”. The purpose of this event is community-service driven and gives Bloomsburg students a chance to give back to their town and its residents by performing a number of spring cleaning duties at both public at private properties.
This was my first time participating in “The Big Event”, so I will be sharing my experience from the day.
SIGN IN
Sign in started at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, which obviously isn’t the most ideal. I met up with my group at the main hub of “The Big Event” and received my volunteer t-shirt. We then went to receive our job assignment that we were tasked with completing.
For us, we were given the job of helping out an older Bloomsburg resident spruce up her lawn. We gathered our necessary tools for the job and headed to the job site.
Arriving at the job location
Our group pulled up to our resident’s house and met with her to see what she needed done. She was very gracious to have our help and provided us with refreshments throughout our day of work.
It was pretty touching you could say to see how much she appreciated the extra sets of hands, as she will soon be putting her house on the market before her move to South Carolina this summer.
Completing the job
My group split up into two groups, working on the front and backyard, respectively. We were tasked with raking, cleaning up debris, weeding, and turning soil.
We quickly got to work and worked for about three straight hours on her property. We finished at around 11:30 a.m. and sought her approval before we could return to the hub to checkout. She was pleased with our work and expressed her gratitude to us for our help that day.
We returned our equipment to the school and checked out for the day.
Reflection
“The Big Event” was a cool experience, overall, and I’d recommend every Bloomsburg student to consider participating. Though most of us will only be in Bloomsburg for 4 years, it is important that we invest some of our time into bettering the community and its residents. After all, the town and its people are very hospitable to Bloomsburg students, so why not return the favor?
I will definitely be participating in next year’s event after such a positive first experience with it. Though the work wasn’t the most challenging or glorious, it was definitely appreciated by our resident.
By: Ryan Thomas, B&L Resident Blogger