[gentle music] - [Narrator] Funding for NJ Spotlight News is provided by 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 New Jersey Realtors, the voice for real estate in New Jersey.

More information is online at njrealtor.com.

[gentle synthetic music] From NJ PBS, this is NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi.

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

I'm Rhonda Schaffler in for Briana Vannozzi.

This past year, we have had the incredible opportunity to introduce you to a number of people who are giving back to their communities in extraordinary ways, through our new digital documentary series 21.

This series examines the simple question of, does where you live in the state affect how you live?

21 profiles one person in each of our 21 counties and looks at the social determinants that affect that person's life.

Tonight, we introduce you to several New Jerseyans that are going above and beyond.

First, meet Johnnie Walker, a veteran himself and lifelong activist who spends his days helping other vets in need in Cape May County.

Whether it is securing housing for the homeless, helping navigate the VA healthcare system, shopping for food, or building ramps for a fellow disabled vet, Johnnie Walker has become the go-to guy for all those who have served.

[gentle music] - [Johnnie Walker] 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 come out a First Sergeant, and his two sons are both sergeants in the Marine Corps, and that's I guess what committed me to being a activist for veterans.

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

It has to be stopped.

[gentle music] 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 at Cape May County came about eight 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 felt, 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.

[gentle piano] 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?

- [Speaker] Johnnie Walker will be in my heart and my memory forever.

- [Johnnie Walker] The little fat guy.

- [Speaker] Yeah.

- [Johnnie Walker] 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 'em in a motel for two 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 'em $250.

All they gotta do is verify, and fill out the paperwork, and send it in.

My normal day with CVAC, I'm up by 6:30, 7:00 AM.

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 tourists town 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 'em.

The VA is a great institution, it 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 you, we really thank you.

The saddest thing that I deal with each and every day is when I get a family member who 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 case workers who volunteer for us and we help by paying utility bills, put food on the table, put ramps up.

We finished decks, replace decks, we went into homes and made 'em handicapped 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.

I've got shaving cream, soap, shampoo, whatever you need to put in the bags.

We fix cars or 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 'em in a motel for a couple weeks and then we get 'em 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 to vets, somebody to talk to.

[gentle 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.

- Let them know how much we love and care for them and that we'll give them information if they reach out.

- [Johnnie Walker] 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.

[gentle music] - Next, we take you to Bergen County, where, as a single mom, Rhona Vega strives to create equal opportunities for her kids and others in her community through her organization, Parent Matterz, a resource that nurtures all students' dreams and ambitions and helps parents prepare their kids for college with tutors, enrichment programs, mentors, and more.

[uplifting music] - [Rhona Vega] Out of all the places I've lived and I've lived a lot of places around the country, Bergen County feels the most like home.

After two field marriages, I needed to be near a village.

It was time.

That support system is huge.

As a single mom moving here in 1993, I remember being told that this was not the place to live as a single mother.

I don't think they were being disrespectful.

They were just being honest that you can't afford to live here.

I definitely was discriminated against when I tried to find apartments.

One, because I was a single mom, and then also because of my color.

So, Bergen County is affluent and resources are...

I don't think they're dispersed evenly throughout the county.

So, that definitely is an issue.

- [Speaker 2] Thank you.

- [Rhona Vega] Oh, you're welcome.

Take care.

- [Speaker 2] You too.

- College is expensive.

It's a business.

Folks who don't have that access, it can be money, it can be access to resources, and net worth, that's not really giving their kid real world experience.

I was one of those parents.

The wealth is not distributed.

Someone who maybe has access to a major corporation or something more along the lines that the student is interested in can get their kid those internships.

I started talking to folks at guidance and was like, hey, you know you have kids doing this?

And, they said, not a lot of kids are doing this kind of enrichment stuff.

So, I said, well, let's work together.

So, I took a job at Taeneck public schools on two different occasions.

It was very enlightening just to see things from another side, good and bad, and I got to see the gaps.

I have a nephew and he went to this summer leadership program which was four weeks and it was incredible.

That changed his whole outlook on everything.

He was there with wealthy young people of color who were from around the world and they exposed him to to things that he'd never even heard of and thought of.

And, so it gave him a drive that's like, oh, wow, I can do this.

And, he came home and said, how come other kids in my community are not doing the same thing?

You can't just...

It's not okay for your kids to just be doing well.

How you doing, queen?

Come over here.

You have to worry about the other kids that are sitting on either side of them in the room.

What that means is you have to get more involved.

And, so I took that to heart and I said, okay.

And, that's what sparked Parent Matterz.

[gentle] Alright, who is interested in scholarships, and free money, and all that good stuff?

The mission is to empower and nurture parents to help their students thrive.

And, you can also like move it over a little bit.

- Okay.

- So, I'd love for you guys, if you have your phones, to scan so we can let you know about enrichment opportunities.

So, that's our mission to expose every possible child on the planet and parent, and nurture them, and let them know that you can't really do this alone.

For me, it was really tough, 'cause I really just wanted to climb to the top of the Empire State Building and start yelling and say, hey, everybody, this is happening.

I just had a conversation with a parent yesterday who was just... Just had no idea what her options were.

So, those resources have to be front and center.

Parent Matterz provides access to tutors, access to mentors, enrichment in immersion programs, scholarships, internships.

They'll work on building a resume or updating a resume, showing a young person what their resume should look like by the time they're applying to college, and then exposing them to the hundreds of resources that we have.

And, mentors will go through the application process with them.

It kind of takes the pressure off the parent.

- Yeah, it was fun.

I got to see somebody get cut open.

It was crazy.

- [Rhona Vega] So, it was a medical program.

- 'Cause they're really on top of their game and I wanna be like that too.

- [Rhona Vega] Excellent, excellent.

It's important for young people to see themselves reflected in mentors and folks that look like them.

If you don't see yourself in something or if you can't imagine something, then you really can't start taking the steps to get there.

I saw how it impacted my children and I thought this is the oxygen that they need.

- Oh, that's when we were in that conference and then multiple people from the law school came out and talked to us about like law.

- I've seen my kids' lives change and I've seen others, and it's just so empowering, and it just keeps me inspired to do more.

So, lots of kids are in college now, because they were exposed to something that they never even thought about.

[gentle music] These programs are around the nation.

The other one is interning at Facebook now.

The best parts of Bergen County.

Oh, wow.

The diversity.

I love it.

It reminds me of the way I was raised in New York City.

Having access to different foods, and different cultures, and different languages, and different people.

You learn so much then you're around people who are different from you.

You get to understand the world differently and that's so important.

That is one of the best things to me about Bergen County.

I just think it's important for folks to know that someone is always batting for us to have this lifestyle.

Someone is always sitting at the table to create this lifestyle in the schools and all the amenities that we get to enjoy and that we just need to encourage people to do the same, especially people of color, to get involved in your local politics and your local school boards.

We're involved in town council meetings.

[gentle music] [Rhona talking in background] And, if you don't continue to have someone at the table fighting for that, then we could lose it.

[uplifting music] This is a job in itself just opening the bags.

People are waiting to be asked.

Some people don't know.

Give them a personal invitation and kind of give them a plan of action, but people are willing, are ready to help, and wanna give back.

But, the more I talk to people, they're like, why are you doing this?

And, I'm like, why wouldn't I?

Doing what you love, it doesn't even feel like work though.

And, when you start seeing goodness come from it, it just makes you, it motivates you to do more.

It just feels incredible.

It just feels really, really incredible just to be able to see the impact you can have on someone's life and that's what makes you keep going.

- We head to the state's northernmost county, Sussex, where we meet Jay Fischer who knows you cannot beat mother nature, and says we need to realize this is the only planet that we have.

So, Jay focuses on the science behind naturally recycling food waste items and diverting them from landfills.

A passionate composter, he's built a business with his community in mind hiring only locals, providing workforce training and volunteer opportunities for those in need, and for local high school students with disabilities.

[uplifting music] - We need to realize that this is the only planet that we have.

We need to start being much more conscious than what we are, because you can't keep dumping stuff in a hole and thinking nothing's gonna happen.

Being able to take these food waste items, keep them out of a landfill, and then through what happens naturally, transform them into this rich, earthy soil, it's so satisfying.

Most people look at food waste as a problem.

Well, I want to educate people and get them to look at these items as resources as opposed to waste products.

Here at Ag Choice we do organics recycling.

Out here, the big dairy farms are all taken over by what I call McMansions and a little five acre farm, so they can't manage their manure, and it can become a real pollutant.

So, my parents and I started putting together a business plan to take the manure back, and compost it, and make soil.

So, we got a small grant to help us get started with Ag Choice, and here we are, and recycling almost 18 years later.

[uplifting music] 2012, we get a phone call from a consultant and he's talking about a large coffee company wants to start a recycling program to separate the coffee grounds from the aluminum, would would be interested?

He says, well, the company is Nespresso.

Have you ever heard of 'em?

And, I was like, sure, I know who Nespresso is.

I had never heard of Nespresso a day in my life, thank God for Google.

So, that night, I got outta a sketch pad and just started drawing out my idea.

The system starts with that blue machine, I designed the gray machine, and that's what rips open the bags.

She's looking for any big items, and then all the plastic capsules will just fall down into a gap, and all the aluminum ones will actually jump the gap and continue their journey.

At that point, the capsules are compressed inside a chamber and then they're ready for recycling.

What's left in the yellow container is clean coffee grounds which we'll transport over to our compost site to make into a humus rich soil.

[uplifting music] All the equipment was all stuff I dreamed up.

A lot of it's inspiration.

Most of the time, it'll be in the middle of the night, I'll be laying in bed, or I'll go out in the shop and I'll tinker.

This lamp is one of my at home hobby projects.

So, I rewired and repurposed it.

It's amazing.

You get a little creativity and some free time what your mind can put together.

I'll get a random thought and I'll just have to stop and just start sketching.

I get on a Harley and I go out here in the woods.

While I'm riding, it gives me an opportunity to decompress Up here, the wheels are always turning.

I don't know if the car's going anywhere, but the wheels are always turning.

[chuckling] Food waste diversion from landfills is hugely important.

You can dig up a landfill right now in a cell that had material in it from 1970 and pull up newspapers that you can still read.

So, you're just taking the dirt out and filling it with these items that are never gonna disappear.

One of the keys to doing this and doing it successfully is following the science.

Christine's job is super, super important.

Daily, she's walking up and down the roads taking temperature readings, oxygen readings.

- We're up to 140 degrees already.

- Decomposition doesn't happen without oxygen.

So, this machine is exchanging fresh oxygen for co2.

So, when you compost aerobically, now we can continue to keep reusing those soils.

It's happening natural every day.

There's a reason the planet's been here for billions of years without us intervening.

We can't beat mother nature.

I think that this green transformation can happen and it will happen, but it has to be a multi-pronged approach and it needs to start with businesses changing their packaging methods away from this disposable plastic packaging.

You can't take an organic item and put a plastic label on it, because no matter how good my screener is, I can't screen out these little tiny plastic labels.

We really need to change the mindset and it needs to start now.

[gentle music] Where do you find all this garbage?

Community is big for me.

The environment that you live in, that you work in, play a big influence on your life.

I owe a lot to growing up here in Sussex County and that's the reason we conduct our business the way that we do.

It was important for me to build my business here where I grew up, where we could offer good quality paying jobs.

Like our staff tends to be extended family and we try to treat them with respect.

Alright, driver, happy motoring.

Good morning.

How we doing?

The program I started that we run now with the kids with disabilities, that is all for trying to help these kids prepare to be an adult.

How are you this morning, young man?

Working hard or hardly working?

Working hard.

It's not just taking capsules outta boxes, it's teaching them how to work together.

So, the students that are here with us today are from a local high school and they have varying abilities.

What we want to try to do is give them a real world work experience, so when they finally do graduate high school, they can go to an employer and let them know this is what I've done.

We make them interact with other adults, get them to open up a little bit.

So, there's a lot of different things that they're learning just by taking capsules out of boxes.

It's been an amazing journey to watch these young men and women, because I think the individuals that I've seen are capable just haven't been given those opportunities.

So, it's much more broad than just me and Ag Choice.

It really has had a positive effect on the community.

[uplifting music] I wanna leave this planet a better place than it was when I got here.

So, if that's to replenish soils for future generations, I'm okay with that.

- Now, down to Burlington County, where at Camp No Worries, the familiar buzz of cicadas and sing alongs fill the air with the sounds of summer, a place where the C word does not exist for a few days.

A cancer survivor herself, Kasey Massa, uses what she learned through her diagnosis and recovery to give back to families in the community, providing a safe space where children facing cancer and their siblings can come and just be kids.

Anchor Briana Vannozzi sat down with Kasey to learn more about the experience.

- Kasey, you took what was a traumatic situation for you as a child and turned it into something that has given back tenfold to families in South Jersey.

How did you think of it?

- I'm often asked this very same question and I think the great thing about when we started camp is that I was young and too naive to think that anything could go wrong.

So, at 19 years old, I dreamt big, and had very supportive family, and community, and everyone was just very engaged in helping to build this dream, and to foster some independence around it.

And, we've just never looked back.

- Yeah, I mean that goes a long way in being able to accomplish a dream for sure.

Camp No Worries, it helps not just youth, but also their siblings who are dealing with the lifelong diagnosis of cancer, what have you seen it do for these families?

- The beauty of camp and the beauty of the Camp No Worries program is that it just allows kids to be kids.

So, when we're at camp, everybody is a camper.

There is not a differentiation between patients and siblings.

And, what we've really seen and what we've heard from our families is that it was the first time I didn't have to worry about people telling me what I couldn't do, or it was the first time we were on an equal playing field, or it was the first time I didn't have to worry about my brother or sister, because there were other people there doing that.

So, we really just got to be kids.

- You're now going on almost 30 years.

How many kids lives have you touched, if you can even estimate at this point, and what do you hope to do from here?

- No, we have... We have touched thousands of lives and our hope for camp is really just for this mission to continue.

The beauty of where we are now, 30 years later, is that many of our leadership staff are former campers.

So, it really speaks to what we're doing and how important it becomes in the lives of our families.

For the first time this past summer, we had a parent that finally graduated into the role of a volunteer.

- Wow.

- So, we do not allow our parents to volunteer while their children are still participating in the the program, but this parent remained committed, saw the impact it had on her children, and her son was a counselor, and she was part of our staffing team.

And, it was just great to see that come full circle for this family.

- What's your message to kids who are going through this?

You've been in their shoes.

- I think the overall message we all like to send at camp is to show children life beyond cancer, that this is just one chapter in their journey, but it's not the whole book.

And, so to be able to show kids other staff who have been there as children and where they are now professionally, where they are personally, it helps our families see that my child will go on to do great things and maybe even have a family of their own.

And, I think that's another great part of camp.

- Kasey Massa, you're an incredible person.

Thanks for the great work that you do.

Thanks for your time.

- Thank you.

- You can experience Kasey's full story and the other extraordinary Jersey residents profiled in the 21 film series at mynjpbs.org/21.

And, that's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Rhonda Schaffler.

For all of us here at NJ Spotlight News, thank you for being with us and have a good night.

[orchestrated music] - [Narrator] The members of the New Jersey Education Association making public schools great for every child, RWJBarnabas Health, let's be healthy together, and, Orsted, committed to the creation of a new long-term sustainable clean energy future for New Jersey.

[uplifting music] Major funding for the 21 film series is in part provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Additional funding is provided by the PSE and G Foundation.

[atmospheric music]