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Tonight, a special edition of NJ Spotlight News.

We're kicking off Shore Week here on NJPBS, so we bring you an encore presentation of our 21-digital documentary series.

From Monmouth County, the Thompsons make cleaning and preserving the shoreline a family affair.

Seeing all the problems that the ocean was having made us realize we have to do our part.

The ocean means so much to us.

We just have to embrace the work that needs to be done and get involved.

And just down the coast in Atlantic County, Cookie Till is changing farming and food in South Jersey.

Nurturing the sandy soil to grow produce and fill a void left by the county's food deserts.

Empowering the underserved population to appreciate the concept of homegrown.

We could be an outreach to so many different underserved populations.

Food deserts aren't just about putting a supermarket down in the middle of a city and going, "Okay, everybody's good now."

Then there's Johnnie Walker, way down in Cape May County.

A veteran who's doing everything in his power to keep aging vets healthy and thriving along the coastline.

We're not trying to replace the VA in any way, shape, or form.

I just saw that there's a lot of veterans out there who are entitled to benefits but don't know how to get them.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

♪♪ >> From NJ PBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News" with Brianna Vannozzi.

>> Good evening and welcome to a special edition of "NJ Spotlight News."

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

NJ PBS is devoting the next week to stories from the Jersey Shore, a week-long celebration of Jersey's most iconic destinations.

From the beautiful seaside communities under threat from environmental challenges to the vibrant culture and bustling boardwalks that have shaped generations.

To help kick it off, we're digging back into our archives to look at reporting we've done over the years, highlighting some of the people making a difference along the shoreline.

People who are contributing to their communities in extraordinary ways.

In our award-winning digital documentary series, "21," we profiled one person in each of our 21 counties to examine the simple question, does where you live in the state affect how you live?

Tonight, we take you first to Monmouth County to meet Mary Beth and Scott Thompson, who have been making waves since the day they met.

This dynamic duo has made ocean stewardship an integral part of their family's legacy.

Scott, a county native and active volunteer, and Mary Beth, chief operating officer of Clean Ocean Action, have made their commitment to the New Jersey coastline a family affair.

[♪♪] When I was a little girl growing up, we had a family beach house.

And before you went in the house, you'd sit on the back step and take the rag and wipe your feet off.

That's what needs to be done.

You don't understand, "Wow, why do I have tar on the bottom of my feet?"

That shouldn't be.

That's not right.

So that was one of my earliest memories of why I should work to protect the ocean.

[♪♪] I would describe Monmouth County as a little piece of heaven.

It's tranquil and peaceful.

The ocean is what I love about this area.

I got involved in Clean Ocean Action through my husband, Scott.

For the past 30 years, I've been employed by Clean Ocean Action.

We felt very strongly about the environment and how important it was.

Yes, thank you very much.

We appreciate it.

Enjoy the day.

Thank you, ladies, for your help.

Appreciate it.

Okay, that's it.

That's what we're looking for.

It's not quantity, it's quality.

Obviously, we would go to the beach with our kids as much as we could, and the beaches were just not what we wanted them to be.

There was litter abounded.

There were marine life that were struggling on the shoreline because the water was so polluted.

Seeing all the problems that the ocean was having made us realize we have to do our part.

The ocean means so much to us.

We just have to embrace the work that needs to be done and get involved.

That's right there.

Yep.

Yep.

The enormity of the ocean and the silence of the ocean is difficult in respect to getting people to understand the issues.

Litter, you see it, so you pick it up and you recycle it, hopefully, whereas there are a lot of ocean pollution issues that you really can't see.

The world can't become artificial, and that's where we're headed.

The natural world is where we started and where we need to put our focus, and the ocean is number one.

Eagle eyes.

Perfect.

It was very apparent that we had a serious litter problem in New Jersey, coastal New Jersey in particular, because all waterways lead to the ocean.

All the litter ends up on the beach or in the water.

Typical everyday garbage, straws, bottle caps, pretty standard stuff.

Big plastics as well.

But it was good.

Thank you for participating and helping to clean the environment.

Throughout the years, working on various issues and seeing them grow and expand and become so important and so valuable has been very rewarding.

It's much more than just picking up trash on the beach.

Beach Sweep started in Sandy Hook, one location with 75 people, and has grown now to over 70 sites throughout New Jersey, mostly coastal and a few in waterways up in North Jersey, and about 10,000 people a year participate, and that's only two times a year.

About how many people?

I think like close to 30.

We not only collect the trash and of course separate recycling from trash, but we have data cards that have hundreds of items on them, very specific.

We feel we have a clear picture of the actual litter that accumulates on the beaches.

Thank you so much.

No, thank you.

No, thank you for hosting us.

It's amazing.

Every year we tabulate all that data into an annual report.

It gives us a picture of what types of litter and quantities that are found along the coast.

And then this data is true scientific proof that these particular items are being found in these particular quantities.

Many towns have used this data to enact regulations within their town, such as smoking bans on the beach, plastic use bans.

You have to let people know that you care and that you can make a difference.

So that's what we try to do.

[bells ringing] I think where you live definitely impacts how you live.

But I think also what your background is plays a role.

My parents were very community-minded and felt that it was their duty to give back to the community and volunteer in many ways.

That's the way it was.

And we try and instill in our kids a responsibility to also take care of the environment.

I think one of the most impactful parts that I've seen over the years when someone realizes, "Wow, this is really important.

I can do something that makes a difference."

And to me, to see that spark of excitement when somebody understands an issue or takes that leap to go and do something, that's to me the most meaningful.

Thank you so much for helping.

Thank you.

I have learned to persevere, to be patient, to always base anything that I say or do in fact in science.

I've learned to be flexible.

It is all about the ocean, and what's good for the ocean is good for business.

What's good for the ocean is good for the economy.

What's good for the ocean is good for physical health, mental health, and involved in the community and bettering the environment.

It's important to us, and that's what you do.

Thank you.

Enjoy your day.

[music] A bit further south along the coast in Atlantic County is Caroline Cookie Till, where everything for Cookie revolves around food.

After years of running a popular restaurant and bakery, she acquired an 80-acre farm and dedicated herself to healing the sandy soil through regenerative methods.

Her team empowers the underserved populations in the surrounding food deserts with opportunities to work, learn, and grow on the land.

Here's her story.

I love this area.

I love living on the island.

Even after Sandy and my house got destroyed and my restaurant got flooded, I wasn't leaving.

So we're going to have peach, blueberry, egg pie.

That's what we should call it.

So many things you can do around food that really can make people's lives so much better.

[music] I own Steve & Cookie's Restaurant in Moorgate, New Jersey.

We are going into our 25th year.

I love to feed people, and I love to see people happy.

This isn't just about feeding people that want organic and want to eat better, that have the means to do it.

We really need to, as a community, as a society, work to educate people that just have no access to the food or any idea that what they're eating could be hurting their health.

[music] This farm started as a dream about five years ago.

I used to come out to the farm when it was Reed's Farm.

It was a family-owned farm for 75 years.

And every time I drive up here, I was just so blown away by the beauty of the place and just how close it was to the island.

March of 2020, that dream started to take form.

We were able to take this land over, 78 acres, and start building from there.

[music] Just when things were starting to get scary, three weeks later my restaurant's closed, the whole world shut down.

And it was so therapeutic because I didn't know what to do with myself, but I could be out here.

And then, you know, it just became like, wow, this is what we need.

Like, we all need to know where our food comes from.

We need to know how to grow food.

[music] And that's what people started to embrace during COVID.

[music] The land is not easy.

We're finding out just how hard it is.

You can't just say you're going to farm organically after a land's been farmed conventionally for 75-plus years.

Some of our crops failed this summer.

I mean, it's just really our second year.

We're really trying to regenerate this land.

This isn't soil; it's dirt.

[laughs] But it will be soil.

[music] This is our chicken bus.

The pecking, and eating, and pooping is magic for the land.

They're like one of our biggest helpers.

We need biomass on the land to start getting life back into the soil.

They're part of this whole regenerative process.

Now that we have a plan, it's exciting.

[music] We could be an outreach to so many different underserved populations.

Food deserts aren't just about putting a supermarket down in the middle of a city and going, "Okay, everybody's good now.

We can leave."

It's not like that.

People are still going to eat the wrong things because there's so much advertising around sugar and carbs and dead food.

We have to start thinking about things different.

Food is a vehicle to help kids just kind of realize their potential.

We started a program in the schools called Harvest of the Month.

Every month we highlight a farm and talk about the vegetable, and then we make something together, and everybody tastes it.

A lot of these kids have never been off the island, let alone seen these animals, get their hands in the dirt, see where things grow.

[music] Everything revolves around food.

For me, it means a lot to me to be able to acquire this farm and have this be a resource.

People that walk on the farm, you can see what the potential is when I look in their eyes and what it does for people already, and seeing the beauty of our area through the agriculture.

We have programming with special needs.

Autistic community has been very supportive.

Workforce development going on, people in recovery coming, people that need to do community service coming out.

They're finding something that speaks to them here.

That's what the dream has been for this place.

I feel that the farm is about empowering people, opening their eyes to just how cool it is to watch things grow.

It's like magic.

You know, New Jersey, we are the Garden State.

We should elevate that.

That is what I would love to see in my small world of Atlantic County, us getting together and just figuring out how we can just raise everybody up.

At the end of the shoreline sits Cape May County, where Johnnie Walker, a retired activist and veteran, had a lifelong dream to help his fellow vets and became the common thread between other veteran organizations in the county, forming a network of volunteers and support systems for those in need.

Johnnie leads fellow soldiers of the county to lend a helping hand pretty much anywhere it's needed.

Meet Johnnie.

My grandfather was a POW in World War I.

My father was a World War II veteran.

I was a Vietnam-era veteran.

I have a son, came out a first sergeant.

His two sons are both sergeants in the Marine Corps, and that's, I guess, what committed me to being an activist for veterans.

There's no way in hell should any veteran be living on the sidewalk today in our society.

It has to be stopped.

[♪♪] Not many people know this, but if I'm not mistaken, Cape May County has the highest population of veterans in the state.

Got a lot of homeless vets down here that live in the woods or live in tent cities, and they live off the dumpsters behind the stores.

When we started our activism, CVAC, which stands for Citizens and Veterans Advisory Committee of Cape May County, came about 8 years ago due to a friend of mine asking for help for an employee of his who was going to be homeless.

I reached out over social media, and in a matter of weeks, we got this guy into housing, and after it was completed, I thought, "Just imagine we were organized and had a group and did it."

So I reached out to these people, and most of them people are still with us today.

[♪♪] The more that we would do and the more we would hit the local papers, the more people would call up and say, "How can we become a part of that?"

Johnnie Walker will be in my heart and my memory forever.

The little fat guy.

Yeah!

We're about 52 strong volunteers, and we're the only organization that I know of in the state that can get homeless vets into housing within 24 to 48 hours.

And just to bring everybody up to date on this homeless veteran that we're working with, CVAC put him in a motel for 2 weeks.

It's just a unique group of people who don't get paid a dime but all work together for the same mission, and that mission is helping our brother and sister veterans.

This simple form gets them $250.

All they got to do is verify and fill out the paperwork and send it in.

My normal day with CVAC, I'm up by 6:30, 7 a.m.

The first thing I'm on is the computer for about an hour, an hour and a half, and the next thing I'm out on the street.

The biggest problem we face down here in southern New Jersey, there's not enough shelters, there's very little shelters, and nobody wants some shelters in their neighborhoods.

These are tourist towns, and they don't want to be associated with homeless people.

CVAC, we're not trying to replace the VA in any way, shape, or form.

I just saw that there's a lot of veterans out there who are entitled to benefits but don't know how to get them.

The VA is a great institution that does an amazing job, but they don't take you by the hand and walk you through the process.

If you don't learn what's out there for you, you don't get it.

So the different veterans organizations down here in the community, we all pull together.

What we're trying to do is help veterans who have emergency needs, and those emergency needs to veterans could be very small to us.

But it makes a big difference.

Nobody has to tell me what the American Legion does.

You guys do a phenomenal job, and we thank you.

We really thank you.

The saddest thing that I deal with each and every day is when I get a family member say, "I have a veteran who's 90 years old and needs medical help."

Well, sometimes that's too late because it may take two, three years before the process is completed and you can get the help.

We have caseworkers who volunteer for us, and we help by paying utility bills, put food on the table, put ramps up, we finish decks, replace decks.

We went into homes and made them handicap accessible.

We have a lot of our senior veterans who don't even have money to buy the prescriptions and the drugs they need.

We assist and help them.

Shaving cream, soap, shampoo, whatever you need to put in the bags.

We fix cars, bought tires, work boots, school clothing for children, school supplies.

We load up backpacks with some things that we give out to families that need help.

We can get housing for a homeless vet within 24 to 48 hours.

We put them in a motel for a couple weeks, and then we get them into the Catholic Charity Program, and they make themselves sustainable to get back into the community.

Sometimes it's not only the monetary or the physical that they need help with.

Sometimes they just talk, and that's what we try and give the vets, somebody to talk to.

[Music] I believe very strongly in the grace of God, and I feel I'm here for a reason.

And He gives me that strength and energy to keep going, and I will keep going as long as He gives me that strength and faith.

[Music] But it's not about me.

It's not about me.

It's not about no individual.

It's about all of us.

There's so many good, good people that I've met in Cape May County that want to help.

No hesitation, that they're just there on the spot.

The best thing that anybody can do is thank a vet.

If you see a guy wearing a veteran's cap, say thanks for your service.

And my favorite line to come back is, "It was my honor to serve."

That's going to do it for us tonight, but a reminder, all 21 episodes still live on the NJPBS website.

You can check it out at mynjpbs.org/21.

We profiled some pretty incredible people doing what they can, not just to help the shoreline, but the needs in their community.

And Shore Week is happening all week here on NJPBS.

Head to njpbs.org/shoreweek for the entire schedule.

Thanks for being with us on this Good Friday.

We're wishing all of those who celebrate a happy and healthy Easter.

Have a great weekend.

We'll see you right back here on Monday.

NJM Insurance Group, serving the insurance needs of residents and businesses for more than 100 years.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and by the PSEG Foundation.

Major funding for the 21 film series was provided in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Additional funding was provided by the PSEG Foundation.

Public service is what we do at the PSEG Foundation.

Through volunteer hours, partnerships, and our other contributions, we're committed to empowering communities.

We work hand in hand with you, our neighbors, to educate young people, support research, environmental sustainability, and equitable opportunities, provide training and other services all over New Jersey and Long Island, uplifting communities.

That's what drives us, the PSEG Foundation.

[Music]