The third annual Big Event at Quinnipiac will be held on April 14. The Big Event is a campus-wide service event in which students volunteer to say thanks to our community in a “big” way.

In 2010, 680 members of the campus community volunteered at the first Big Event at Quinnipiac, raising nearly $1,500. In 2011, more than 1,000 members of the QU community volunteered in Greater New Haven as part of The Big Event.

On this day of service, volunteers will spend three hours at one of 80 nonprofit organizations throughout the Hamden and New Haven area. Some sites involve nature, educational medical/research, community outreach, youth service and elderly service.

“We’re expecting close to 2,000 volunteers and they sign up as a team of 10 to go out and help at one of the sites,” committee member Andrew Bonacci said.

Members of the Student Government Association and the Community Outreach Committee encourage students to get involved in the Big Event.

“It is important for students to get involved because the community needs to know that we are not only a part of the Quinnipiac community,” SGA Class of 2014 Representative Danielle Big said. “We are part of the local community as well because we live here.”

Quinnipiac’s Community Outreach Committee contacts all of the sites to see who is able to participate.

“We have a master list of all of the sites in the area that we equally distribute to each committee member,” Bonacci said. “We are constantly calling and emailing the sites’ contact people until we get a definite answer.”

Students who are looking to get involved can sign up at the tables in the Carl Hansen Student Center prior to March 9.

“Student involvement is huge because it shows that we care about the outside community. Sacrificing just three hours on a Saturday morning makes a great difference to the sites that the student volunteers help out. With the number of volunteers increasing each year, it shows that Quinnipiac students really enjoy helping others.”

Breakfast and lunch will be provided to volunteers, and there will be an opening rally and closing ceremony to celebrate at the beginning and end of the three service hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Quinnipiac joins more than 200 universities across the nation host the Big Event.