Lucky Seven

Rain or shine, The Big Event went on as promised Saturday with over 20 job sites and over 300 volunteers giving back to Chadron’s community. 

Last year’s Big Event had snow and rain in the forecast, but the bar was raised Wednesday and Thursday when Winter Storm Wesley dumped nearly a foot of snow on Chadron. Outdoor job sites were cancelled and the remaining ones were reconfigured, meaning considerable work for Big Event staff according to communications professor and Big Event adviser Shaunda French-Collins.

“Wednesday was kind of a watch, observe (day), and Thursday was talking to Dr. Rhine, talking to Dean Margetts and Coach Long, trying to figure out what was the most feasible (option), and talking amongst the staff. Several people started calling job sites Thursday seeing if there were alternative things…Friday, several of us met late morning for several hours replacing people as best as we could with some new indoor jobsite add-ons,” French-Collins said. 

Though the changes were necessary, the extra labor came at a cost.  

“It meant essentially scratching a good chunk of the six hours’ work we did Tuesday night,” French-Collins said. “It was essentially taking half our job sites and still working with the numbers we had.”

Like last year, over 500 volunteers signed up for Saturday, but when the big day came around 300 checked in. According to French-Collins, considering the weather and last-minute rearrangements, the number fares well.

“It was great, all things considered, because so many of them (job sites) were supposed to be beautification, landscaping, fertilizing,” French-Collins said.

Some sites, like Assumption Arena and Old Admin activities, were new to The Big Event this year, but others such as Friends of Pets and Crestview have been long-standing sites over the past seven years. Others were completed at different times altogether, with The Big Event staff working a site Tuesday and Women’s Basketball doing theirs Friday. Football is set to complete their job site at the city parks Saturday.

Last Saturday may not have gone as planned, but French-Collins said the hard work paid off.

“I’m not going to lie and say it wasn’t difficult, but I can’t say enough great things about The Big Event staff,” French-Collins said. “…I know for some of them it was probably disheartening to see some of that work (scratched), but I think they could not have done a better job.”

“I know a lot of peoples’ jobsites went quicker, or weren’t what they expected, but we rolled with it and I think at the end of the day people just have to remember that a lot of good things still happened,” French-Collins said.