Skip to main content

Mississippi College Students Join Big Event Service Teams


Mississippi College students Mallory Montgomery of New Orleans and Grant Gilliam of Clinton are signing up 2016 Big Event volunteers on the Clinton campus.

Mississippi College students are volunteering for community service projects to help the Jackson Zoo, Mustard Seed, the Ronald McDonald House, Clinton Hospice and cleanup along Terry Road.

It’s all part of MC’s involvement in the 2016 Big Event that’s linked to more than 100 college campuses nationwide. About 150 MC students are expected to pitch in on January 18, the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. There are no classes on the Clinton campus as America celebrates the birthday of the slain civil rights leader.

MC senior Grant Gilliam, 21, of Clinton sees community service as one of the cornerstones of the Christian university’s mission. The Big Event is a perfect fit.

“I think for sure that service is a call of action, a way to demonstrate our faith in a tangible way,” Gilliam said.

The Christian Development chairman for the Student Government Association, he will make the rounds at various locations around metro Jackson next Monday.

Community service seems to be locked into his DNA. Grant has assisted with building Habitat homes over the years. He’s also traveled on mission trips as far away as Brazil as a member of Northside Baptist Church in Clinton.

Gilliam and Beth Masters, director of Christian Life & Ministries at the Baptist-affiliated university, stayed busy at the MC cafeteria Tuesday signing up more students. Starting 9 a.m., students will become volunteers during three different shifts through 4 p.m.

At the 2015 Big Event, MC student Lacy Pigford joined members of the Nenamoosha social tribe volunteering at a Jackson elementary school. The MC women cut down branches, cleaned up trash, and replaced an old batting cage on campus with a new one.

“It’s so important for students at MC to take opportunities to volunteer and give back,” says Lacy, a nursing major and the NT service chair. “We’ve been blessed so much by the resources we have here. My absolute favorite thing about MC is they teach the importance of giving back and serving the community.”

Leaders at Brandon-based Mustard Seed, a non-profit serving adults with developmental disabilities, appreciate the helping hand from Mississippi College students.

On the Luckney Road campus, “these students are able to pull through on so many of our needs – some of these being the less glamorous, behind-the-scenes volunteer jobs,” says Mandy Jones Sisson, Mustard Seed’s community relations director.

Mustard Seed, she said, “truly benefits from these students who sacrifice their time, energy and resources to help some very special people.”

The day for Big Event activities varies among institutions nationwide. The program began at Texas A&M University decades ago. Later this year, over 20,000 Texas A&M students are expected to participate, whether it is window washing, yard work or painting homes.

A number of MC students signed up for the Ronald McDonald House at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. First built in 1989, it’s the home away from home in Jackson for families with young patients receiving care at the Batson Children’s Hospital.

Helping others in need isn’t a one-day enterprise at Mississippi College. MC faculty, staff and students last year logged 100,000 hours of community service. Volunteer work spreads from the Clinton campus to the MC School of Law in Jackson.

For more information, contact Beth Masters at the Office of Christian Development at 601-925-7366 or dbmasters@mc.edu