POULSBO — What started out as seven teenagers doing a good deed during Spring Break turned into much more Thursday.

Instead of a small work party to help North Kitsap Fishline, North Kitsap Baptist Church Youth Pastor Duncan Forbes rallied 27 teens to help the organization with some much-needed spring cleaning.

The group did everything from powerwashing and brush removal to stocking food baskets and unloading donations.

“I didn’t have to guilt any of them into coming and the response was overwhelming,” Forbes said with a light-hearted chuckle.

One of the group’s main goals for the day was to improve the appearance of the building, he said.

“We want to make the clients feel good about coming here and not feel like they’re second-class citizens,” he said, adding that the church believes in the food bank’s mission and Thursday’s effort is just one example of that commitment.

In addition to assisting Fishline, Forbes said he hopes the youth involved learned a lesson as well.

“This is about thinking about other people and putting our own desires second,” Forbes said. “This is what it’s all about.”

Even though Fishline executive director Sharon Kirkpatrick was thrilled with the turnout, she was quick to give credit to the organization’s new volunteer manager Ben Pecora for making it happen.

“I’ve been on vacation, so this wouldn’t have happened without him getting it done,” Kirkpatrick said.

For Pecora, the work party marked the culmination of an effort that began with a simple phone call.

“Pastor Forbes called and said he had some youth who wanted to help out and asked what needed to be done,” Pecora said.

The January landslide behind the building and subsequent repairs by city crews created a need for landscape work and brush removal that Fishline couldn’t afford to do without volunteers, he said.

There were also shelves that needed to be stocked and a myriad of other things necessary to help the organization fulfill its goal of serving the community, he said.

“This is all volunteer and we never could have done any of this without them,” Pecora said. “They’ve done everything.”