This year students, faculty and staff have given lots of hours toward community service, particularly in September after the flooding from Hurricane Lee. But Student Government felt this Army of Colonels could do more for the community at large.

The Big Event is a one day mass community service event with ultimate goals of the a group of Colonels will be doing tasks such as small home repairs, putting up fences, cleaning up parks and helping out in general. They will be taking work orders and then pairing up different people for those work orders and sending them out to help the community.

For anyone who wants sustenance before the day’s work begins, free breakfast will be served beginning at 9 a.m. Bagels that morning will be donated by the Bake House of Wilkes-Barre.

Those on the Big Event committee have been working with different organizations to obtain volunteer sites such as the Jewish Community Center, St. Vincent Soup Kitchen, Wilkes-Barre Department of Public Works and the Luzerne County Disaster Relief group working for flood victims.

“Most schools have this event, but because we are a university that is big on community service, we wanted to make sure we are doing something in the way of community service,” Student Government President Willie Eggleston said.

There will be  short-term and long-term sites, so volunteers who finish up at one site can move on to another. The committee is trying to get the whole campus involved clubs, faculty, alumni, staff and athletic teams.

Event flyers are posted all over campus with a barcode that can be scanned with a smart phone to lead directly to the website for the Big Event. This event has a Facebook page as well to reach out to volunteers.

“Right now we are having a volunteer rush to get everybody registered and pair them up for sites. We have the work, we just need the volunteers,” said freshman class president and pre-pharmacy major Taylor Moyer.

So far there are around 250 volunteers. Everyone will receive T-shirts and bags for their participation. The Big Event takes place April 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. followed by a barbecue at 4 p.m.

Find out more about The Big Event here