Longwood students clean up town during Big Event

By Crystal Vandegrift, Staff Writer

FARMVILLE – As a way to show appreciation and to give back to the community, over 400 Longwood University students took part in an annual event to help clean up the Town of Farmville.

Last Saturday, during what was labeled as The Big Event, students helped town residents, businesses and churches with a variety of “spring cleaning” projects.

According to Longwood senior and the event director, Manuel Dwyer, last weekend students gave back to the community by working at 80 job sites around the community. “Most of the job sites students were working at were residences,” he said. “This event helps a lot of residents such as the elderly and those who are disabled.”

The Big Event at Longwood is the largest campus-wide community service project of Longwood’s history. In 2015 over 400 students completed over 50 service jobs in the town of Farmville and surrounding communities, a huge increase from 2009 with 12 jobs and 250 students. “We have seen growth the past four years.” added Dwyer.

Service jobs performed by students during the event included yard work, cleaning siding, painting, light construction, trash pickup and more.

One of Saturday’s project sites was Johns Memorial Episcopal Church on High Street where the Longwood Football Club helped plant new spring flowers. Members Aaron Simms and Geoff Goodwin were two of the members working on the High Street project. “This is my first time doing The Big Event,” said Simms. “I enjoyed doing this, and it’s a great way to give back to the community. Goodwin echoed those statements adding that he enjoyed getting to know new people. “I walk by this church every day but today I got to meet and talk with people I have never met before.”

The Big Event, which started in 1982 at Texas A&M University, provides an opportunity for college students to express their gratitude to the surrounding community.

The Big Event strives to embody the ideals of unity and service according to Longwood. This one-day event is not based on socio-economic need, but rather a way for the student body to join with faculty and staff and express their gratitude to the entire community which supports Longwood University.

“We try to encourage our students to build relationships with the town people to build a stronger Longwood and Farmville community and this event helps with that,” said Dwyer.