LYNN —   Was it the open letter from Marblehead High seniors, Hannah Wolf and Matt Frankel, was it the beautiful sunny day, or was it that 110 people just wanted to do something good for their neighbors?

Whatever the cause, the North Shore Teen Initiative is celebrating one of its biggest social action days ever. NSTI motivated 80 area teenagers and 30 adults to spend seven hours working to renovate and beautify the Ford School in one of Lynn’s poorest neighborhoods.

For years a favorite school of Cohen Hillel Academy, whose older students mentor youngsters from the Ford School, now NSTI has set its sights on the elementary school as well. NSTI Executive Director Adam Smith detailed all the activities of last Sunday.

Ford School children designed a mural earlier in the week with artist Yetti Frankel and then the teens painted it. “We built a memorial garden, we planted nine trees, we renovated their baseball diamond area, we built players’ benches and a greenhouse in their garden, we helped build a koi pond,” Smith said.

The money for the materials came from NSTI coupled with a grant from the city of Lynn and an additional grant from J-Serve.

At the end, everybody relaxed and celebrated with a barbecue and music. Smith hopes this was the first of what will become an annual event.

See NSTI’s pictures on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nsti18 and on its website wwwnsteeninitiative.org.