Rio Rancho High School students and 100 adult volunteers staged the annual Big Event recently, the city’s largest community service project.

“This is the 14th annual Big Event, which is Rio Rancho’s largest community project, so we have over 700 volunteers going to 100 jobs sites in our community to help senior citizens and others who are in need in our community,” Chris Salas, the activities director at Rio Rancho High School, told KOB.

About 600 students from Rio Rancho, joined by students from other schools, helped their neighbors with yard work, cleaning, decorating and basically anything they could do to assist those who need help.

“We’re so happy to have support from other schools [such as] Cleveland High School – our neighboring school in the district – and Del Norte High School,” Salas said. “Even as far as Atrisco Heritage, clear on the other side of town, and this is their second year coming and helping us.”

Students were assigned to different groups and given supplies for the day. School buses dropped the volunteers all around town where they looked to be of help to anyone in need.

“In the bags, there’s some Windex, gloves, trash bags and a whole bunch of garden stuff and things like that we give them,” volunteer Jenny Saprajt Do, a Rio Rancho junior, told KOB. “Depending on different job sites, it could be big or small. We give them different tools and stuff.”

Rio Rancho High School Student Body President Aleena Sommala has participated in this event since she was a freshman. Now a senior, she still reflects on the event’s importance.

“We put in a lot of time and work into this and, just seeing everyone here giving up their weekend, I don’t know, it feels good that we’re doing something to help out the community, Sommala said.