Texas A&M’s The Big Event returned for the 38th year

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -Texas A&M’s 38th The Big Event was held Saturday, sending over 10,000 students into the Bryan College Station area to give back and volunteer in the community. The big event is known as the largest one-day student-run service-oriented project in the country.

Even though this year’s event looked a little different due to the pandemic, the Aggie students’ mission was still to come together and say thank you to Brazos County residents.

Service projects included painting, yard work, window washing, and general cleaning. This year there were no indoor jobs, and instead of the four-hour volunteer time, it was scaled back to two hours. Mask and social distancing was also required, and groups were limited to ten people or less.

One group of Aggie students traveled out to the Kurten community to meet the Boyd family. Tony Boyd is a former Aggie and says he enjoys the event every year. He says even though he enjoys the extra help around the property, he just loves the fellowship with current Aggie students.

“Former students care about them and what they do, and we’re interested in their future,” said Boyd. “If I help the kids out today, they’ll be helping me out sometime in the future just like they are today.”

Jacob Phillips is a freshman at Texas A&M University and was the group leader for the day. He says this was a way to give back to the community that has done so much for them while spending time with friends in the outdoors.

“I’d never met this family before and getting to meet them and talk to them was really cool,” said Phillips. “I think he said he was class of seventy-four, so it means a lot to be able to give back and meet new people and have new experiences.”

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