Panther Service Day is changing.

Rich Higginbotham, student vice president of student affairs and chairman for Panther Service Day, said this year they’re taking a different approach to the event.

“What we’re doing different this year from last year is that in the past we just painted houses, but what we’re doing this year is going around the community cleaning streets, going around raking leaves behind people’s yards and just cleaning around the fences,” he said.

Higginbotham said this helps to give a greater degree of actual help in serving the community.

The fifth annual Panther Service Day will be taking place Saturday. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. at Buzzard Hall with registration. There will be a second chance to register at 12:30 p.m.

With pre-registration, 60 people have signed up to participate in the event, Higginbotham said. Butt he said he expects 100 to 200 people to show.

“A lot of the organizations come last-minute to the event, and they just come in. That’s why we have that little fluctuation of 100 to 200 people,” he said.

Last year, 80 to 100 people participated, Higginbotham said.

Justin Barrett, marketing chairman of Panther Service Day, said the goal was to get as many students involved as possible.

“For marketing we have signs throughout the dorms,” he said. “We also have them in all the buildings on campus, as well as some of the fraternities.”

Barrett said volunteers will receive more than just a sense of helping the community. They may also make new friends by participating.

“You get to do, of course, community service, but you also get to help people,” Barrett said. You get to clean up houses, and you get to hang out with people you might not have hung out with before.”

Michael Schwader can be reached at 581-7942 or at mwschwader@eiu.edu.