The Big Event at The University of Texas at Arlington

Vital Stats

Tiffany K

Arlington, TX

people helped2308
People Doing It2586

The Problem

The mission of The Big Event is to plan and implement a single day of community service and outreach involving UT Arlington students, faculty, staff, and community members in an effort to engage, educate, and mobilize volunteers throughout the community. The Big Event impacts the community by bringing the campus together with the surrounding community in an effort to show gratitude to those who help others. Numerous community-based and non-profit organizations and agencies benefit from volunteer efforts, including those that provide services to children, senior citizens and low income families, or those that promote the quality of life, such as the Science Center at River Legacy Park, Arlington ISD, and the Texas Ramps Project. The Big Event volunteers are proud to help others improve the lives of the people who rely on these important services and facilities. The Big Event's theme is, "United, Mobilized, Ready To Serve". As The Big Event Director, my main focus is to bring about an awareness of just how important volunteerism in our surrounding communities is through different areas of focus, as mentioned above. With a student population of 29,000, I want our goal of 800 participating volunteers to grow year by year because we want to inspire students to see that they can learn about themselves, an agency, and their community through volunteering. Targeting the problem of a person's lack of inspiration to be involved in making a difference, knowledge about how much help non-profits need, and small interest in volunteering is what The Big Event strives to fix every year in reaching out to those who have not participated in The Big Event before and tell them why they should, and the personal and community benefits that are achieved. We also want to help in any way, fix the lack of help the agencies get and provide the needed volunteer assistance in making certain services available to those who the agencies assit every day.

Plan of Action

Being the main person who does much of the work for The Big Event because I do not have a large structured committee, I am in charge of all volunteer and program management. I lead Site Leader training, design the T-shirts and marketing materials, speak to as many student organizations about participating as possible, touch base with agencies who have submitted a Project Site Application, constantly update databases, lead planning meetings, send hundreds of Emails, create marketing plans and campaigns, gather sponsorships, manage The Big Event website, as well as order any promotional items to be used. March 22-April 16, I have planned various recruitment effort activities to encourage everyone to signup and volunteer for The Big Event such as passing out flyers, walking campus with banners, window painting, etc. A new event I created is The Big Event Blitz Week April 12-16 where there will be booths around campus with laptops readily available for those who have not signed up yet. There will also be articles ran in the school newspaper about The Big Event and video taken on the day of as remembrance and promotion for next year. Volunteer registration has begun for UTA Volunteer's annual day of community service, The Big Event which will be held on Saturday, April 24. So far as of March 26 we have 270 volunteers signed up on our website, and plan to have at least 800 within a few weeks. The last day to sign-up at The Big Event website www.uta.edu/thebigevent to volunteer is April 16. This year is truly our biggest year yet, and also a celebration of The Big Event's 10th year of dedication to our communities. Our goal for this year is to have at least 800 volunteers from various student organizations, faculty departments, staff, and community members participating in The Big Event. UTA Volunteers will be hosting The Big Event Blitz Week April 12-16 to encourage those who have not signed up to participate in The Big Event yet, to do so via our laptops on booths in the UTA Library Mall, UC Mall, and within the UC. There will be UTA Volunteers members staffing the booths to answer any questions and assist with sign-ups. UTA is joining with the Arlington Alliance for Youth, in that The Big Event and Global Youth Service Day are on the same day making it the biggest day of community service in North Texas this year! The Big Event is providing about 54 different project sites with around 943 opportunities for The Big Event volunteers to assist community-based, non-profit agencies. Here are a few: planting a garden, renovating a baseball field, assist non-profits with event preparations, create a Facebook and Twitter account for a non-profit, clean a library or historical cabin, lead a step team workshop, nature conservation, painting and more! Volunteer work times are flexible depending on the project of choice. The day officially starts at 8am and ends at 4pm. Following The Big Event, all volunteers are invited to attend SpringFest in the UTA Library Mall for a free meal around 5:30pm, a concert starting at 6:30pm featuring four bands including headliner The Bravery, activities, and guest speakers.

Project Updates

On Saturday, April 24 The Big Event had 800 volunteers in the surrounding communities of Fort Worth, Dallas, Arlington, North Richland Hills, and Mansfield completing 54 different community service projects that contributed to 1,600 hours of community service all on one BIG day!

Over 140 UTA student organizations were represented in The Big Event and all project sites were complete!
The volunteers enjoyed The Big Event Volunteer Celebration & the SpringFest concert series on the UTA Library Mall following the completion of their projects.

For even more pictures, information, agency thank you letters, and updates check out The Big Event at The University of Texas at Arlington's Facebook Fan Page!
http://www.facebook.com/search/?post_form_id=cc338de9a27a323caf788820fd9...

Almost to our goal of 800 volunteers signed up to participate in The Big Event!