LSU students turn out in droves for a weekend of giving back

Close to 1,200 LSU students flooded the Parade Grounds on a Saturday morning in March, ready to work. Through Geaux Big Baton Rouge—an effort created and implemented by students and supported by LSU Campus Life—the volunteers were dispersed to 71 separate job sites around the Baton Rouge area. There they painted, made repairs or cleaned up, based on the needs they encountered. The sites included individual homes, nonprofit organizations or schools that were in need of maintenance and beautification.

Estimates suggest that this single day of service provided a benefit to the local economy equivalent to more than $79,000. Geaux Big, in its second year, was modeled on Texas A&M’s Big Event, held in College Station each year since its inception in 1982. This year, more than 20,000 students at that school served at more than 2,100 sites. Organizers of Geaux Big are determined to make this a yearly campuswide volunteer event that continues to grow and serve the needs of the Baton Rouge community.