OU Big Event returns to offer volunteer help to Norman, metro community

Emma Keith, The Norman Transcript, Okla.
·4 min read

Apr. 10—For the first time in two years, students from the University of Oklahoma partook in a mass effort to assist nonprofits, city services and churches across the metro area Saturday morning.

The university's annual Big Event was one of numerous annual activities that OU canceled last spring as the pandemic descended on Norman. This Saturday, organizers — some of whom have waited since 2019 to actually experience The Big Event — were able to send out more than 3,000 volunteers to participate in the university's annual day of service.

"A lot of the people on our team were freshman or sophomores — 1/8 2020 3/8 was their first year in the organization, so for many people here on our team, this is their first Big Event," said Anna Roberts, the event's vice chair of public relations. "So it's been really rewarding to see it happen. And as someone who was a part of planning last year, for it to get canceled, it just feels like we've been planning this for two years."

The start of Saturday's Big Event was decidedly different from the usual North Oval kickoff ceremony, where some of the thousands of participants generally gather to grab a packaged breakfast and hear a quick speech from the university's president before dispersing across the metro.

This year, organizers condensed the opening ceremony into a video message. Early in the blustery chill of Saturday morning, the team behind the event stood outside the Lloyd Noble Center, where a line of cars stretched out onto Jenkins Street, and handed out all the tools and breakfast fuel volunteers might need in a drive thru line.

Planning this year's event meant continuing to take COVID precautions into consideration, Roberts said. The organizers sanitized the tools pre-pickup and would do so again when teams returned their supplies; organizers and volunteers masked up at job sites throughout the city.

"There definitely were challenges, but I think we could recognize there was still a great need in the community, especially this year after everything that's happened in the pandemic," Roberts said. "A lot of the places we serve, they're churches, they're nonprofits, they're schools, they're parks, so they still very much needed help. So we were dedicated to make it happen, but first and foremost, we wanted to make sure our volunteers stayed safe."

Emery Haller, who joined other members of Kappa Kappa Gamma in picking up trash and debris across Reeves Park, said that as a sophomore, she was glad to finally be able to participate in her first Big Event in her time at OU.

"I'm super excited because last year, I remember hearing about it but we never got to sign up, and so being able to be involved this year after seeing videos about how fun it was, I'm really glad that we got to," Haller said.

With thousands of volunteers spread out at sites across Norman, Moore and Oklahoma city, this year's Big Event didn't just offer service opportunities to college students. At The OU Food Pantry, a team of Norman North student council members was tasked with painting the organization's storage space Saturday morning.

The team of student leaders hasn't had as many opportunities this year to serve as they might during a non-pandemic school year, said Chad Boese, one of North's student council advisers.

"Because of COVID, we've just been real limited in what we've done and what we've been able to do and what we've wanted to do," Boese said. "I've tried really hard not to put kids in a position that they're uncomfortable with — just about everything we've done this year has been on voluntary basis."

Boese said students were happy just to be able to participate Saturday morning after the year they've seen.

"It's what these kids live for, and this group of kids is a whole lot more service over self — you're not in student council if you're not that way," Boese said. "They were really excited just to get out and make a difference and do something — they haven't been able to do that a lot this year."

For the organizations that The Big Event assists, the day can offer some much-needed manpower to complete projects. Matt Marks, OU's campus care coordinator, said volunteer groups like those the Big Event provides are essential to the food pantry's ability to execute its mission.

"We could not do it without the groups and the volunteers that we have," Marks said. "With our staff, sure, we can do quite a bit, but the more people, the better we can serve our community, and the easier we can serve our community."

Emma Keith covers Norman Public Schools and the University of Oklahoma for The Transcript. Reach her at ekeith@normantranscript.com or at @emma_ckeith.