The City of Laramie will get a bit of a sprucing up this Saturday during The Big Event, when UW students will go out in to the community to participate in a number of community volunteer projects.

Xanthe Yorke, UW SLCE community engagement student coordinator, said student volunteers will gather at Simpson’s Plaza on campus for the kick-off at 9 a.m. and get breakfast, which will be provided. Yorke said Mayor Andi Summerville and UW President Laurie Nichols will address the volunteers who have gathered before sending them off to complete the projects. Yorke said students who haven’t signed their documents will be able to do so at 9 a.m.

Yorke said after breakfast and the speeches, students will be sent to their works sites. Yorke said students will be doing indoor and outdoor painting jobs, yard work, cleaning and other projects. Yorke said students have plenty to do this year.

“We had a bigger inflow of jobs sites, we had a lot of community members register their sites,” Yorke said.

There will be plenty of volunteers to complete the tasks, however. Yorke said over 700 students are currently signed up to volunteer on the day. The benefits go both ways. Yorke said businesses and others in the community get a helping hand and students get to reach out to the community and get volunteer hours

“One of the main things is they [students] get community service hours which is always great,” Yorke said. “I think it’s also really important to create that relationship between students and community members because the community really does support the university and they do so much for us and they do so much for students.”

Yorke said this is the fifth year that the university has put on The Big Event. She said the idea came from Texas A&M University, who has been hosting a similar event since 1982.

After the volunteer work is done, students can head downtown to the Big Event After Party at the Historic Railroad Depot for a free BBQ and live music.

 

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