PORTER | The Valparaiso High School football team did not get home from Friday's victorious game over Griffith until 11 p.m., yet most of the members were volunteering early Saturday morning as part the United Way Regional Youth Day of Caring.

"They're tired," Coach Mark Hoffman said. "They're bruised."

Hoffman said the players put in 1,500 hours of community service last year. He said he is a big believer this type of service is good not only for team building, but also for building up the individual.

"It develops the entire person," he said.

An estimated 400 high school students from various youth groups across Porter and Lake counties gathered Saturday at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's Chellberg Farm and Bailly Homestead site on Mineral Springs Road. The young people, many of whom wore the same light blue T-shirt, were sent out in groups to undertake various restoration projects within the National Lakeshore and nearby state park.

Projects for the morning included renovating trails and clearing sand from the sidewalk between the parking area and lake front at Kemil Beach, said National Lakeshore spokeswoman Lynda Lancaster.

This was the third year the youth event was held, which mirrors the volunteer work carried out by adults a day earlier as part of the United Way's Day of Caring, said Kathy Wojkovich, director of the United Way's Regional Volunteer Center.

Also attending Saturday's event was four generations of Crown Point resident Marlene Holme's family.

Holme said when her daughter first presented the idea of the morning gathering, she mistakenly had the impression she was being treated to breakfast.

Once the real agenda became clear, she was game anyway.

"We love the Dunes," she said.