By Reina Kempt

NATCHEZ — If there’s work to be done, the Natchez High football team will be more than happy to help.

Assistant coach Trey Woodard said a player’s grandmother called him and asked him for a huge favor, and he was more than happy to help out.

“She just needed somebody to get the food donated at the food drive at the post office to the Natchez Stewpot,” Woodard said.

The Stewpot is a soup kitchen located on 69 E. Franklin St., and its main goal is to continue feeding the hungry.

In a hurry, Woodard said he gathered up a few of his players such as Travez Lyles, Andre Watts and Timothy Collins and rushed down to the Stewpot.

“We took only seven or eight players,” Woodard said. “It was last minute and I got who I could get and got on down there to help.”

Watts, a linebacker for the Bulldogs, said he was happy to do it but the process took them a little longer than expected.

“I was excited to do it, it wasn’t hard but it took a long time,” Watts said. “It was only a few of us unloading eight trucks.”

Woodard said he knows that next time, the entire football team will be lending a hand.

“Next year we’ll get the whole football team to help,” Woodard said. “With 30 or 40 kids this time, it’ll only take 30 minutes to get it done.”

Collins, a linebacker and defensive end, said he just enjoyed doing the right thing.

“It was all about giving back to the community,” Collins said.

Lyles, a wide receiver and free safety, said he didn’t realize the impact he was making at first, but his eyes have now been opened.

“When coach first called, I didn’t want to do it,” Lyles said. “It took three hours, but then I started thinking I would want somebody to help me. When it was over, I was happy to have done it.”

Woodard said the Stewpot was just the first of many community service projects to come in 2013.

“We always do community service in the summer, so we’ll have a lot more coming up as the summer gets started,” he said.

In the past, the Natchez High football team has helped at local nursing homes and helped move euipment during the school district’s reorganization at West, Frazier and McLaurin elementary schools plus Morgantown Middle School.