Students from a Seward County Community College/ Area Technical School sociology class used a class project to show appreciation to more than 75 Liberal and Seward County Fire Department firemen, and members of their families, at a cookout at the North Fire Station in Liberal Oct. 11. Planning for the appreciation dinner began during the Sept. 11 anniversary and culminated with the meal served during the department’s quarterly meeting. “You can tell by the huge turnout this was really unique,” City of Liberal Deputy Fire Chief Skeety Poulton said. “They even brought the Liberal High School jazz band for entertainment. We just weren’t expecting such a big deal.” Freshmen sociology students Diana Frausto, Daylyn Young, Kara Stump, and Dawn Shouse organized the event as part of their community service project for the class. SCCC/ATS instructor Debbie Stafford has been introducing community projects as part of her sociology courses for several years. “It’s a great opportunity for students to give back to our community,” Stafford said. According to Stafford, some of last year’s projects included; a health fair for the Mexican American Ministries, a silent auction for artwork to fund scholarships for the local high school, the creation of a safe park for the Head start program and one group helped feed the homeless and the fix up the homeless shelter. “We never thought it would be this big,” student Diana Frausto said. “It was stressful, but fun putting everything together.” The students served the firefighters and their families a meal of hot dogs, hamburgers, potato and macaroni salads as well as desserts donated from businesses and people from the community. Kara Stump was another SCCC/ATS student who helped coordinate the event ”We would like to thank all the people of our community whose generous donations made our event possible,” Stump said. According to the group, donations were received from Larry Romey, owner, Lonestar Services; the Liberal High School Jazz Band; Janie Kitch; Knights of Columbus, Sergio Padilla; Anita Reed; Dave and Jeri Rice; Pizza Hut; Terri Barnes; and Tabby Young. “The weather was great,” firefighter Tyson Rice said. “These girls from the sociology class did an outstanding job. We give them many thanks. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” The firemen appreciation dinner was planned as an outdoor event, but cloudy skies and the forecast of rain threatened the picnic. Fortunately, the clouds held off and so did the emergency calls until literally seconds after the last chair had been put away. According to the students involved, what started out as a goal for a good grade ended up becoming something so much more.