The University will “Paint the Town Red” this Saturday for the day of service set to kick-off Homecoming week.
Deborah Raziano, director of Alumni Affairs and Homecoming committee chair, said the whole University community will be painting in Peltier Park and doing some beautification on the neutral grounds in the city.
Raziano said the project has been added to replace the Homecoming parade as a result of low attendance.
“The Student Government Association looked into the homecoming parade a few years ago and decided that if the turnout did not increase, they would have to do something,” Raziano said. “Last year, it was not well attended by the community and the participation of students was low.”
Raziano appointed Lee Daigle, homecoming philanthropy committee head, to form a subcommittee for philanthropy within the homecoming committee.
“Lee Daigle has coordinated a lot of the philanthropy aspects,” Raziano said. “I’m really appreciative of all the work Lee and his committee have done.”
Daigle said although “Nicholls Can” is a big philanthropic event connected to homecoming this year, the committee wanted to do something that was a “bigger show of the dedication and commitment that Nicholls has to the community.”
“The homecoming parade had dwindled in its participation over the past couple of years so it was brought up to the community for us to do some kind of philanthropy project  that we could incorporate all the people who participated in the homecoming parade into a day of service,” Daigle said.
The committee consulted with the city of Thibodaux and the mayor’s office to get the ball rolling.
“We worked with the city of Thibodaux to designate certain simple projects that we could handle that would beautify Thibodaux, but also be a great visual representation of the work that we are doing to give back to the community,” Daigle said.
The Homecoming committee invited all student organizations and anyone else on the campus who would like to participate. The committee asks for anyone who plans to attend arrive at the Peltier Park recreation building at 10 a.m.
“We are encouraging everyone to wear red, that’s why the name of the project is ‘Paint the Town Red,'”
The art department is painting a mural and Raziano said they are working “overtime” right now to avoid possible rain.
“Paint the Town Red was actually an old homecoming event when student organizations, especially the greeks, would paint vehicles and other windows with red window paint,” Daigle said. “We revamped the title for this because we are going to be doing a lot of paint for the day of service and we are going to be wearing red.”
Raziano said this day is important because it is an opportunity to improve Thibodaux.
“I think in this day and age people have very philanthropic minds about wanting to help others,” Raziano said.
 “We really just wanted it to serve as a big visual that we are committed to Thibodaux,” Daigle said. “It is a give and take relationship.”