Brightside: Shore Good 4-H

MARYLAND – Dedicating and committing your time to volunteering is one of the most selfless acts, and local young students who participate in local 4-H programs are accustomed to that. However, a local and small but mighty group, Shore Good 4-H, is using their love for volunteering to help those directly right here on the Eastern Shore.

The Shore Good 4-H A volunteerism group is inspired by one of the Founding Fathers and one of the most influential intellectuals, Ben Franklin. “In the morning he would ask “What good shall I do today,” and at the end of the day, he would ask, what good have I done today? So that is how Shore Good came up with its name, as in what good are we doing in our community,” explains founder, Amber Cockey.

The organization is a volunteer-based group where students of school age are tasked with finding ways to work with organizations and non-profits on the eastern shore, to better their community. “It’s just giving them an idea of not only different ways they can contribute as a citizen to their community and give themselves some fulfillment and doing so but also different things they can do with their lives,” says Cockey.

Whether revamping the nature center at Pemberton Park, cleaning up a watershed, working at a local food bank, or most recently preparing the west side community center for a holiday dinner; These students are learning selflessness and compassion. “Shore good is fun, and it also makes me feel good,” says member, Jane Johnson. Another member, Isabel Cockey adds, It’s trained me to be a person who’s always looking to help people, always looking to better myself by helping people.”

Isabel, president of Shore Good 4-H tells 47 ABC, that she grew up in a volunteer-oriented family. She says, her ability to share that love of volunteerism, also helps other kids find ways to reach out to their community. “I don’t think people realize how many people they’re touching. It’s wonderful for all of us to see the efforts that we’re putting in. The hard work the sweat the blood tears, the dedication to the product, seeing the people’s enjoyment, I think it’s very fulfilling.”

These students are a part of 4-H through the University of Maryland Extension. However, Shore Good, is a smaller branch founded by Amber Cockey, Jen Johnson, and Tracey Yates who are home-school teachers who saw volunteerism as an opportunity to create another lesson for students. “They get to meet other kids and what better way to forge friendships than when you’re knee-deep in watershed cleanup junk or when you are working with power tools or when you’re stacking boxes,” says Cockey.

Along with helping their community, the students see needs that aren’t being met, and figure out how to meet them. “Volunteering at the food bank, I got to see how much food was donated to people who were food insecure and it made me feel better that not so much food was wasted,” says Johnson. “We went and cleaned up around parks around the area along the Nanticoke river and we did Ocean City, and I just thought that was fun because you got to make sure that your oceans and waterways were safe,” says another fellow member, Guinevere Cockey.

According to Cockey, these students are motivated individuals who are proud to take the initiative to lend a helping hand. “None of us leaders ever have to tell these kids to step it up or to participate with their whole heart,” she tells us.

Their dedication to helping others here on the shore is something the members and leaders say is contagious, and they hope spreads to others in the community. “When there’s an opportunity to volunteer just take it,” says Guinevere. Isabel adds, “I think it’s really touching to tailor your volunteerism to the different areas you’re volunteering in. I think that helps you as a person kind of realize your potential.”

Amber Cockey also tells us, that their group is a little less than a year old, so they’re always looking for more community partners and other ways to volunteer.
To join, you have to be a part of 4-H, which you can contact the University of Maryland Extension.