Big Sunday Weekend Community Festival Company Profile
Our mission is to build community through community service. We believe that everyone has some way that they can help somebody else. Our biggest event each year is Big Sunday Weekend—always in the spring, usually in late April or early May. That’s when thousands of people from California, of all ages and all backgrounds, work together at hundreds of nonprofits, schools and other agencies that need their help. Last year on Big Sunday Weekend, volunteers turned out—some as individuals, others with their families, still others as part of a class, church, synagogue, mosque, business or club—to lend a hand at more than 500 different projects from San Diego to San Francisco, making Big Sunday Weekend one of the largest regional community service events in America. On Big Sunday Weekend there are opportunities for every passion, talent, skill and age. Projects are scheduled throughout the weekend, and can last anywhere from one hour to two full days. Big Sunday Weekend also includes special events such as art shows, yard sales and blood drives. Plus, every year on Big Sunday Weekend, we give away truckloads of clothes, books, food, furniture, musical instruments, luggage, toys and other items. For many people, Big Sunday Weekend is just the beginning of an involvement that continues throughout the year. Many of our volunteers build lasting relationships with the nonprofits they first help on Big Sunday Weekend. All year long—and for years to come—they continue to volunteer, mentor, serve on boards and contribute goods, services and money to support these worthy causes. Monthly on Melrose is a hugely popular series of workshops, collections, performances and parties to benefit our nonprofit partners. Most of these events are held at our offices on Melrose Avenue in L.A. So far we've collected tons of school supplies and food, thrown Halloween extravaganzas, held a performance by the New Directions Choir and dinner for veterans and holiday sing-a-longs that included lots of festive caroling. We've had hundreds of volunteers helping the Big Sunday staff and mixing it up with low-income children, kids with disabilities, vets and women and children from various shelters. It's been a ton of fun! The End of the Month Club is our response to the serious problem of hunger in America. Right here in our community many hard-working people worry about where their next meal will come from. More and more people are turning to food pantries to help them put enough food on their tables. Indeed, one local food pantry that recently was serving 9,000 people each month, last month served more than 13,500! And while demand is up, food pantries are faced with reduced funding and are struggling to meet the need. For many pantries, keeping the shelves stocked has become increasingly difficult. With this in mind, Big Sunday sponsors a food drive to collect non-perishable food for a local food pantry on the third Wednesday of every month. Join us as we collect, sort and deliver this most basic of necessities! The Big Sunday Community Calendar links our incredible volunteer network with social-sector organizations year-round. The calendar works like a community bulletin board. It features some 70-to-80 events each month-- from what's happening here at Big Sunday to listing our nonprofit partners’ events, needs and volunteer opportunities. We post toy, food and clothing drives, pet adoption days and fundraisers. And if our nonprofits need a helping hand to serve food to the hungry, pack gift boxes for our troops or read to kids in schools, we’ll tell you about that too. We’re so excited about theBIGlist, our online wish list to benefit our nonprofit partners! Every week we hear from people in the Big Sunday community who have things to give away – everything from dining room sets to pianos to theater tickets. And, of course, we hear from people who want to help, too – like a troop of Eagle Scouts looking to do a project. At the same time, our nonprofit partners call us with emergency needs – everything from beds to clothes to clerical help to finding a home for a stray dog. We've happily played matchmaker for years. Now, we're even happier to make it official with theBIGlist. There are lots of great items already listed. If you have things you’d like to add, please contact thebiglist@bigsunday.org. Each November we distribute the Big Sunday Holiday Volunteering and Giving Opportunities List. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, our volunteers use our list to find ways to help more than 100 organizations, collecting toiletries, blankets, clothing, school and art supplies; buying Christmas presents for needy children, teenagers and adults; “playing Santa;” feeding the hungry at Thanksgiving and Christmas; singing at nursing homes during Hanukkah; assembling holiday gift baskets for poor families; preparing care packages for soldiers overseas; and donating much-needed dry and canned goods to local food pantries facing dire shortages. By the way, Big Sunday is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Big Sunday projects have no religious or political agenda, and there is never any charge for volunteers to participate. Big Sunday is completely underwritten by cash and in-kind donations. Our motto is everyone helps, everyone wins. Thank you for visiting our website. If you’re looking for a way to pitch in, help out, or give back, let us know, we’ll be happy to put you to work!
