Wednesday, November 3, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sixth Annual Big Event Seeks to Help Local Non-Profit Organizations

NORMAN, Okla. – The Big Event, the University of Oklahoma’s campus-wide day of community service, has begun accepting applications for non-profit organizations to participate in the sixth annual Big Event on April 2, 2005.

Last year, more than 4,800 OU students participated in the Big Event by volunteering at various locations in the Norman and Oklahoma City communities. More than 1,200 students helped build a playground at the Oklahoma City Zoo, and more than 35 students began work on Norman’s first off-leash dog park. Other students volunteered at schools, churches and various other non-profit organizations. Almost 140 non-profit and community-based organizations were served during the 2004 Big Event.

Chairman Mark Moravits, OU public relations senior, says The Big Event is an important event for both the university and the community.

“The Big Event is the only student event at OU that truly unites our campus with the surrounding community and the only event of its kind that has such an enormous and lasting impact on a community that supports our university year after year,” Moravits said. “This is our way of saying thank you.”

Moravits says he expects more than 5,500 OU students, faculty and staff to participate this year.

“Our event has grown leaps and bounds to the point that we don’t have enough sites to which to send our volunteer,” Moravits said. “Not only are we able to provide volunteer labor, but we can also provide the necessary supplies, whether it be paint, mops, flowers or lumber. We do it all.”

OU President David L. Boren encouraged students to adopt the event on the OU campus in 1999. Boren helps kick off the event each year by speaking to students before they disperse to job sites.

“People often ask me what it means to be a Sooner,” Boren said. “I say ‘Come out to The Big Event, and you’ll learn what it means to be a Sooner.’”

The Big Event began in 1982 at Texas A&M University by Joe Nussbaum. It has since spread to more than 70 universities across the country, making The Big Event the largest student-run community service effort in the nation.

Volunteer and non-profit organizations interested in hosting volunteers on April 2 can call 405-325-7912 or visit http://bigevent.ou.edu.