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SHERBURN - It was a perfect fall day, and many students from Martin County West were happy to spend the afternoon outside. The best part was being able to help others as part of the second annual "Martin County West Gives Back."

"It's our way of thanking the community for supporting our fundraisers and all of our extracurricular activities," said Erin Lippert, a Spanish teacher at Martin County West who helps organize the event.

From helping individual residents through the non-profit group CREST, to donating time and efforts to other public-owned areas such as parks and schools, the entire high school was out Friday afternoon giving back.

"CREST has a list of people who need help with things like raking leaving and cleaning windows," said Dean of Students Justin Williamson, who was supervising a group at the Fox Lake golf course. "Our group's main job was doing some landscaping, and now we're finishing up with some raking. We have another group here that's down by the pond and they're working on a conservation project."

While the school tries to keep its work at public places, Williamson said there are more students than places to work, and other places looking for some help for a day next fall can contact the school and express interest.

The students are spread throughout Sherburn, Welcome and Trimont in groups and supervised by staff.

"Last year, we were painting the picnic tables, and doing some raking for the residents," said Ross Bettin, supervising a group of sophomores at Fox Lake Ball Diamond. "This time, we're taking down the windscreens, and just going around and picking up the garbage and raking."

Other sites included Temperence Lake Ridge assisted living in Sherburn and Cedar-Hanson Park by Trimont. But what the event wanted to concentrate most on was giving back to individuals.

"They're the ones who attend our activities and support us through our fundraisers and food drives," Lippert said. "It's our second year doing this, and we really want to put the emphasis on helping others."