The needs of the community came first for a group of Port Neches-Groves High School students Saturday.

Students from various groups went into the Port Neches and Groves communities where they did everything from pick up trash and plant trees to hold a link sale/car wash and wash police and fire vehicles as part of Indians Give.

Over at the high school, Jill Hamilton was one of several teachers leading a student project to clean out planters near school entrances. After the weeds were gone came time to prepare to plant some flowers and other foliage.

“It feels good to take time off from technology and do for others,” Lexus Wilkerson, sophomore, said. “I’m not on my phone. I’m not worrying about anything. Plus I walk out these doors every day.”

Anistyn Deckert and Hailey Hicks were part of the group pulling weeds.

“I feel like we can really make an impact on the community,” Deckert said. “Maybe the older generation says we can’t get off our butts and help but this will make a big impact ad show them that we care.”

Deckert said she decided to help out the community and show she cares. In fact, the effort shows that all of PNGHS cares, she said, and she hopes their names go down in history for starting the project.

Indianettes picked up litter near Taft Avenue and 25^th Street in Groves. They maneuvered through Memorial Park, grabbing up discarded paper and plastic bottles, then moved to the next block.

“I love it. This is a great thing, getting out in the community to do service. It makes me proud, and makes me cry,” Alicia Barnett, Indianettes sponsor, said as she gathered the 21 students up to discuss plans.

The group had cleaned three city parks in Groves though no work was really needed at Celebration Park on Lincoln Avenue. They also picked up debris in front of Bruce’s Market Basket with plans to go out into the avenues branching off 25^th Street where the majority of tropical Storm Harvey’s flooding occurred more than six months ago.

“It feels nice to help the community out, especially after the tragedy of Harvey,” Cameron Hargroder, senior, said.

Cassie Schumacher, senior, agreed.

“It feels really awesome to support the community and do our part and make it the best it can be,” she said.

Senior Tracy Ewing recognized the opportunity to help the community that supports the Indianettes and the high school.

She said the Indian Gives project will continue for years to come.

“I feel like each year we will gain more sponsors and the community will help out finding more jobs,” Ewing said. “They are there to support us in our shows and our games and more and it’s our time to give back to them and do our part.”