USM Students Volunteering to Serve Local Communities during 9th annual Big Event

University of Southern Mississippi (USM) students in Hattiesburg and at the Gulf Park Campus in Long Beach will serve a cause bigger than themselves through “The Big Event” Saturday, Feb. 23 when they assist community agencies, schools and charities with a variety of service initiatives.

This is the ninth year USM has engaged in the program that students at other colleges and universities across the country also take part in by assisting with community service projects mutually beneficial for volunteers and recipient organizations. The USM initiative is supported by the USM Student Government Association (SGA), with assistance from the University's Center for Community Engagement (CCE).

Student volunteers will work at approximately 30 sites in Hattiesburg, Petal, and Purvis – from 9 a.m. – noon, ranging from schools such as Hawkins Elementary and Lillie Burney, where they will touch-up paint and redo bulletin boards, to harvesting the community garden at the Oseola McCarty Youth Development Center, as well as working on some rebuilds that followed the February 2017 tornado that affected Hattiesburg and Petal, in conjunction with community volunteers affiliated with Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi (R3SM) and local churches and schools.

Students at USM Gulf Park in Long Beach will go to Biloxi to volunteer at Loaves and Fishes, a community kitchen that addresses food insecurity by serving meals to veterans and the homeless, among others, helping prepare and serve breakfast and lunch from 6:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Christy Arrazattee, director of the CCE, said there is a special emphasis for this year's Big Event on connecting with churches and neighborhood groups in the hopes of reaching out to areas and people who haven't been impacted by the Big Event in the past.

“We want to help as many people as possible in our communities, including the neighbor down the street who may need a little extra help because of poor health or other issues,” Arrazattee said. “The University is supported so much by the people who live around us, and it's nice to be able to return the favor.”

For more information about the Big Event, email Associate Dean of Students Wynde Fitts at wynde.fittsFREEMississippi or Arrazattee at Christy.ArrazatteeFREEMississippi. For information about the Big Event at Southern Miss Gulf Park, or email Jolanda.W.TaylorFREEMississippi.