Over 200 students gathered at the Student Center to participate in The Big Event, a day of community service benefiting the local Monmouth County area on Nov. 9 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Organized by the Student Government Association (SGA), the event featured a wide range of volunteer activities, from beach clean-ups to assisting individuals with memory loss.
According to the SGA website, The Big Event is the single largest community service project held at Monmouth University, containing 15 various worksites. Tanner Purdy, President of SGA, explained that while participation is required for 15% of each fraternity or sorority, the actual turnout is much higher. “We typically see around 30% from each organization,” he said. The Big Event has held 130 events across the US, with over 16,000 student volunteers.
Jayde Ware, Associative Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, explained the reasoning for this mandatory participation. She explained, “Chapters will send members to participate in The Big Event to show partnership with SGA but also because service and philanthropy are big parts of the values and missions of why all of the organizations were founded, so they support as another way to continue to align with their organization’s values.”
Purdy continued, “It is really incredible to see the whole campus ride together behind The Big Event. It’s one of our time-honored traditions here at Monmouth and it celebrates philanthropy, volunteerism, and it’s great to see folks from fraternity and sorority life, residential life, general clubs and organizations, and administrators come together to give back to our local community.”
Vaughn Clay, Director of Student Engagement and Co-advisor for SGA alongside, and Lauren Pfisterer, Area Coordinator for Student and Community Development, were instrumental in bringing The Big Event to Monmouth. “We got the idea from Texas A&M, which they continue to hold every year. There are multiple campuses across the country that continue to do their own version of The Big Event, and this will be our 24th year of holding the event,” Clay said. “Our students not only live on campus, but they live in the neighborhoods surrounding the university—Long Branch, Ocean, Deal, W Long Branch, all that. So why not try to give back to our friends in the community who need some help whether it’s cleaning up a beach, or working on some of the parks, helping local churches and houses of worship?” he added.
Clay also highlighted the ongoing partnerships The Big Event has cultivated over the years. He said, “Sometimes we’ve had folks like Deal Lake who have probably been working with us for at least 15 years. We get some new ones every year, for example, we have a memory care facility where we’ll have volunteers go out and work with some of the residents who might have a memory issue. It’s a little bit of everything.”
SGA Philanthropy Co-chairs Jailyn Ortiz and Maddie Dougherty, who oversaw this year’s event, have been planning it since June. They worked closely with Emma Vinci, Director of Access and Inclusion, who oversaw the process. “I helped them reach out to worksites and establish their role in organizing the event, order the shirts, and for the past two weeks we’ve been organizing worksite captains, and just making sure that everything was running smoothly,” she said. Vinci also noted the expansion of three new work sites: Rising Treetops, Long Branch Covenant Church, and Atrium Memory Care.
One of the local beneficiaries of the event, Reverend Chase Danford, the Rector of Trinity Church, said, “We try to make this place a place of hospitality, of comfort, of sanctuary, and so while our parishioners are doing a really great job of helping maintain this on a regular basis, a day like this helps give us an extra boost, … When we were asked to be a site for The Big Event, we were really glad because we love having different kinds of people come and serve and give back to our community.” Trinity Church offers everything from afterschool programs to food pantries to a shelter for those in need.
Dr. James Pillar, Vice President of Student Life, is also involved at Trinity Church. “This is where I can say this is why Monmouth is wonderful and you can see how our students are and the heart our students have. For our church, it provides needed service that we can’t do ourselves. But also, it shows our church as well that there are people that come to help us as we help others. You’re paying it forward to us and we’re paying it forward to the community,” he said.
Deal Lake, the largest coastal lake of NJ, was another worksite at The Big Event. The lake is 150 acres and the Deal Lake Commission has existed for 50 years. The Big Event had six worksites along the coast of the lake. Don Brockel, the Chairman of Deal Lake commission, said, “We look forward to it every year, you guys do such a great job. You’re always in it, I mean dive right into it, and ya bring about 100 people every year. It’s wonderful, now we’re spreading you out to six different locations and the lake is a lot cleaner.”
Love Blue is a Monmouth University club that is community service-based. Their focus is cleaning the beaches. Mackenna O’Sullivan, Secretary of Love Blue, said, “Our mission is to clean up, give back and preserve our environment. In 1 hour, we filled up 2 buckets each. We picked up 82 lbs of trash today!”
Another worksite was held at Jackson Woods, a 13-acre park that has been revitalized through efforts spearheaded by Kathy Buchanan and Nan Simon, who started the project six years ago. “When we started, we planted over 80,000 daffodils, the flower of hope. They signify change and regrowth and so that’s why we started with them and now people come just to see the daffodils,” Buchanan said. “For the past couple hours, we’ve been digging out this overgrown part, cutting it all down, and cleaning it up, putting straw down after we clean, and this will be a great habitat for the ducks. We do so much in the couple of hours that we have the kids here, they’re great, the camaraderie is great, the laughs, the fun, I mean it’s such a great day for everyone involved,” she said.
The Big Event also extended to Old First United Methodist Church. Here, students helped to clean up a historic cemetery. The owners; Kiera Luckie, Nancy Branworth, Susan Morford-McDonaugh, and Janey West-Bitsi; all have relatives connected to the cemetery dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Braunworth commented on the impact of the student volunteers, “You couldn’t see anything before, it was all weeds beforehand.” She also said, “The students coming down gives me hope. They’re energetic, have a lot of muscle and are so cheerful. They’re very friendly, very polite. I’m very impressed, they’re parents should be very proud.”
Participants of The Big Event seemed to understand the feel-good morale of The Big Event. Sophomore Valentina Jacovino said, “It’s a beautiful day to clean trash because we’re together, and it feels good to give back to the community.”
Kiera Luckie, Elections and Recruitment Chair and former Big Event Chair was pleased with the outcome this year. She said, “I am really proud of the two chairs who took it over this year as well as Emma who oversaw everything. There are definitely more worksites which is great, so definitely expanding the outreach to the community.”
