Thursday, January 13, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Big Event Looks to Serve Community Organizations

NORMAN, Okla. – Looking out over the Blake Baldwin Memorial Skate Park, Rhonda Baldwin sees skate ramps falling apart and flower beds full of dead plants. Named after Baldwin’s son who died in a car accident nearly five years ago, the park is a focal point in the community for hundreds teenagers who cannot skate anywhere else in Norman.

Although the park is a popular attraction, Baldwin has not received much continued financial support from local organizations. But with the help of the University of Oklahoma’s Big Event, which will take place on April 2, Baldwin will see refurbished skate ramps and new flower beds around her son’s memorial.

“I’m really thankful and anxious that The Big Event is going to help out this year,” said Baldwin. “I’m hoping to get it back into shape, so the volunteers’ help will be tremendous.”

Before his death, Baldwin’s son Blake had petitioned the City of Norman to build a skate park, but progress was slow due to liability concerns. However, in December 2000—only six months after his death—a resolution to build a skate park was passed. Baldwin made it a personal mission to have the park named after her son, and in May 2001, the park was renamed as the Blake Baldwin Memorial Skate Park.

“This park is very popular,” said Baldwin. “A few years ago, we hosted a skateboarding competition there, and we had about 600 observers. The people who put on the competition said they had never seen such a large crowd. Hopefully, with the help of The Big Event, we can attract other competitions and more kids.”

More than 250 other community organizations and sites like the skate park are expected to host volunteers on the day of The Big Event—OU’s largest student event—which is designed to say “thank you” to the surrounding community.

Although the response from community organizations has been tremendous so far, The Big Event is still recruiting organizations to serve on the day of the event.

Mark Moravits, chairman of The Big Event, says that there are currently more volunteers than there are places to send them.

“With so many students volunteering, it’s difficult to find a corresponding number of community organizations and institutions where we can send volunteers,” said Moravits. “We want to help any non-profit organization that needs work done.”

Moravits said The Big Event can send volunteers to churches, schools, animal shelters and other non-profit organizations and that volunteers can do a variety of tasks—from planting flowers to painting.

The Big Event began at Texas A&M University in 1982 and has since spread to more than 70 university campuses across the country, making The Big Event the largest student-run community service effort in the nation. This year at OU alone, over 5,000 students, faculty and staff are expected to participate in the event.

For more information about The Big Event and how to host volunteers, visit http://bigevent.ou.edu.