Bowling Green, Ky. - The ALIVE Center in conjunction with Western Kentucky University's Department of Housing and Residence Life and M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan are gearing up to send first-year Western students into the Bowling Green-Warren County area for Big Redz Blitz Community Service Day on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Agencies participating in the event include the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society, Barren River Imaginative Museum of Science, Bowling Green Public Works Department, Volunteers in Action, Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Inc., Girls Inc., the WKU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Bowling Green International Festival Inc. and Lost River Cave. Activities vary from helping construct a shed, trail clean-up, distributing decals concerning water safety to preparing activities for after-school programs.

Big Redz Blitz Community Service Day will introduce first-year students participating in M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan to vital services in the community and encourage them to continue to volunteer for those agencies in need. M.A.S.T.E.R. Plan is a 5-day program through Western Kentucky that helps first-year college students' transition from home and high school to the university.

The ALIVE Center is part of Western Kentucky's Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program and is a nonprofit agency, funded by a Department of Justice federal grant, secured by Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Center links volunteers to agencies in the Bowling Green-Warren County area, as well as serving as an information clearing house for human service organizations. For further information about the services provided at the ALIVE Center, call (270) 782-0082. The ALIVE Center, located at 1818 31W Bypass, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For more information, contact Cheryl Kirby-Stokes, director of the ALIVE Center, (270) 782-0082.