Every year Mississippi State University says thank you to its community through service and volunteer work with the Big Event, a one-day, student-run community service project. 
The first Big Event was hosted at Texas A&M University during the early 1980s. Although it is relatively new to MSU, the program has grown to be quite large since its arrival in 2009, according to co-director Jonathan Lancaster. 
The Big Event is hosted on a Saturday during the each spring semester. Students can volunteer with a group or individually. Each group or individual is assigned different community service projects, which they perform throughout the Starkville community. These services include help with the elderly, trash and litter pick up and assisting in care for homeless animals at the humane society. 
“The sole purpose of the Big Event is to give back to the community through our service. The number of volunteers that have registered is the largest number of volunteers the school has ever seen,” Lancaster said.
“So far we have 1,125 volunteers registered, which is an increase of a few hundred from last year’s Big Event. We’re so happy because not only have we increased, but our volunteers are so diverse. We have a lot of different organizations and groups registering this year, and it is just awesome,” Lancaster said.
Co-director Jaslyn Langford said the Big Event helps show the students and staff that they do not have to go far and wide to serve people because serving people can easily be done in your own backyard.
“The Big Event of course is very beneficial to the community, but the other side of it is that it is equally as beneficial for the volunteers. There is no greater feeling than that of helping others, and this event is all about that. Also, this teaches people that you don’t have to travel far to serve people and to help those who are in need. The work we will be doing will help our community and our environment, and it will all be done essentially in the comfort of our own back yard,” she said. 
Langford said a large portion of the services provided include the cleaning and maintenance of the local parks and recreation centers. The volunteers will also perform maintenance tasks on elementary schools, day cares and local churches. 
“One thing the city has been having a large problem with is large amounts of trash and miscellaneous items littering the grounds of local parks and recreation centers. We plan to have quite a few of our volunteer groups that will be focusing particularly on the cleaning and reviving of these parks,” Langford said. 
The volunteers include students and staff of all different ages, classifications, majors, fraternities and sororities according to co-director Mialee Billingsley. 
“In order to prepare for the Big Event, we have a committee called the Big Event Committee that organizes everything and helps to involve as many campus-wide and city-wide organizations as possible. This year we have so many awesome groups and organizations that believe in the Big Event and want to be a part of it. Almost every fraternity and sorority are involved this year. Also, we have a lot of MSU teachers who have registered this year,” Billingsley said. 
The Big Event will be held Saturday. Those interested in participating in the Big Event can register individually or put together a team of no more than 10 people by filling out the online participation form. The participation fee is $5 per person.