FARMVILLE – The largest campus-wide community service project at Longwood University returns on Saturday, March 23.

It's a big deal.

And it's called the Big Event.

All over the nation.

Longwood students will be joined that day by students on 75 other college campuses who will also be donating service time in their own communities.

Over 650 LU students performed yard work and other projects within 10-miles of the campus during last year's Big Event and Farmville's Town Council was told last week that this year's Big Event has even bigger ambitions.

The Big Event, which is meant as a huge “thank you” from college students to the community they and their university call home, is hoping to attract 1,000 LU students this year to perform 100 jobs in the community.

“We're trying to bump it up a bit,” an LU Big Event spokesperson told Town Council.

LU students are looking for jobs to perform during the Big Event's three hours and the Town of Farmville will participate again, Town Manager Gerald Spates told the LU students, offering volunteer work oppornities during those three hours.

Ninety percent of the projects have been yard work during past Big Events and anyone within 10 miles of LU's campus interested in having Longwood students perform volunteer work or chores on March 23 can contact the Big Event by email at: longwoodbigevent@gmail.com or by calling the LU Student Government Association at 395-2111. The Longwood University Big Event's website is longwoodbigevent.org.

A statement on the website sums of the Big Event's attitude, thanking students who participated last year “for coming together and creating a better bond between Longwood students and the Farmville community. We look forward to your participation in this growing community service event.”

Students will check in on March 23 behind the Lankford Student Union at 8 a.m. and then leave for their assigned job sites at 9:30 a.m., working for three hours and returning to LU for a closing ceremony, picnic and concert.

The teams of students are provided job site folders that tell them where to go, what work they will perform and what tools they'll need. The students will bring tools to the work sites and will use those if not provided tools by the homeowner or resident for whom they will be donating their time that morning.

Tools forging a stronger relationship between Longwood's student body and the Farmville community.