While Baker University has many long-standing traditions, the members of the community service organization Baker Serves are working hard to establish a new one.

On April 13, the third annual Big Event will be hosted by Baker Serves.

“It’s definitely gotten better over the years,” Lauren Williams, Baker Serves president and co-founder, said. “It’s evolved quite a bit and been very beneficial for the campus.”

The Big Event consists of Baker students volunteering their time at participating venues in the Baldwin City area.

“We’ve reached out to organizations in the community asking if they’d like to be a job site for the Big Event and then of course reached out to students to ask them to volunteer,” Big Event Coordinator Liz Louden said. “So far we have 14 sites and we need at least 115 people.”

The sites include nearby farms, nursing homes and even a music festival.

“When students register for the event, we do ask them where they would prefer to work and we take that into consideration, but ultimately we just need the sites to be filled,” Louden said.

Louden said last year 120 people signed up, but less than that showed up the day of the event.

“This year once someone has signed up to participate, we’re going to stay on top of that with reminders and maybe a phone call the night before,” Louden said. “We’ve got a lot of exciting places this year and I think it’s important that people know we’re counting on them.”

To Williams, this event is more than a resume builder.

“I want to be a teacher, so part of my mission as an educator is to help mold children into being contributors to society and role models,” Williams said. “So volunteering and realizing you can make someone else’s life better also makes your life better. “

Dean of Students Cassy Bailey, temporary adviser to Baker Serves, says the Big Event has two main goals.

“The first is to bring the campus together for a common cause,” Bailey said. “The second is to say thank you to our community, who does so much for us and to whom we’d like to give back.”

Registration for the Big Event can be found online at bakeru.edu/bigevent<a href="http://bakeru.edu/bigevent">bakeru.edu/bigevent</a>..bakeru.edu/bigevent.