Cannon's Big Give

The month of May means time for the Big Give at Cannon Air Force Base.

The Big Give is a community center program designed to encourage volunteerism, community center director Paul Hopkins said.

This year’s contest includes more than double the number of teams and almost double the number of participants.

Cannon's Big Give is an annual program with the bold idea of people competing to give rather than get, Hopkins said.

Teams will pick a project and for one month, compete to change the lives of people in the Clovis, Portales and Cannon communities in the most creative and dramatic ways. Teams will be judged on creativity of the project, quality of the project, teamwork and the impact made. Teams consisted of active duty, dependents, Department of Defense civilians, and retirees. Teams have from May 1 through May 30 to work on their projects. Teams consisted of between five and 15 members. The 2010 Big Give consisted of nine teams and 134 contestants. The 2011 Big Give consists of 21 teams and 258 contestants.

First place prize is $3,000, second place is $1,500 and People’s Choice is $500.