Medomak Valley High School student Wyatt Heal chats with Good Things Thrift and Craft Shop customers Michael Creamer and Robert Creamer Sr. at the stores register while fellow volunteer Alida Zimmerman looks on during the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 21. Heal, who volunteers at the store through an MVHS life skills class, said he enjoys working the register because of the opportunity to meet and talk with customers. From left: Michael Creamer, Alida Zimmerman, Wyatt Heal, and Robert Creamer Sr. (Molly Rains photo)
Frequent patrons of Good Things Thrift and Craft Shop in Waldoboro may have noticed on Fridays that the store’s staffers are a little younger than usual.
This is by design. At the end of every week, a group of teenage students from Medomak Valley High School roll up to Good Things in an RSU 40 van, ready to get to work.
“It’s good to do some good things,” said freshman Oliver Adams, who on Friday, Jan. 24 was busy washing donated dishes in one of the shop’s back rooms. On drying duty was Angela Arteaga, a MVHS clinical social worker who dreamed up the school’s collaboration with Good Things last year.
The work is “field experience” for the students, who are all enrolled in a life skills and independent living class at MVHS, Arteaga said. She came up with the plan for the class to collaborate with Good Things hoping it would allow students to volunteer in their community while making connections beyond the walls of MVHS.
“We have a really strong sense of community in Waldoboro,” she said. “I wanted to connect the students to those people in the community to make sure that when they do leave high school they have people out here that are wanting to work with them and wanting to support them.”
Volunteering at Good Things also offers a unique setting for the students to gain real-world skills, which will continue to help them after graduation, Arteaga added.
“They get real, hands-on experience that we just can’t find in the classroom, building skills of working, teamwork, and self-advocacy,” she said.
Joseph “Joey” Vargas, a sophomore, said through working at Good Things he learned he enjoys and is especially skilled at working the cash register, where students count change and greet and chat with customers. He is interested in continuing to work in a similar role in the future, and has enjoyed his experience at Good Things, Vargas said.
On Jan. 24, Vargas and senior Emily Frost organized an upstairs children’s corner. As they organized books and picked up scattered toys, making the space safer for visitors, Frost confirmed she had also enjoyed participating in the program; Arteaga said she had been one of the earliest participants.
“Emily is a very, very good worker and she stays on task,” said Good Things Assistant Manager Mary Olson. “You can give her a job and she will not get bored with it. She will continue with it until it is done,” she said.
On Jan. 24, junior Wyatt Heal jumped at the chance to work the register. In the shop’s front room, he greeted customers with fellow Good Things volunteer Alida Zimmerman.
Working at Good Things fills a block that would otherwise be study hall for Heal, so he welcomed an opportunity to get out and do something different, he said. So far, volunteering at Good Things has entailed everything from counting change at the register to untangling intricately knotted strings of Christmas lights – “but I find that fun,” he added.
Getting to talk to customers is Heal’s favorite part of working the register, he said, noting that being successful in a customer service role requires both social and math skills.
Stacey Holub, a MVHS educational technician who chaperones visits to Good Things, said she observed the program helps students open up, gain communication skills, and boost their confidence. All these skills will continue to benefit the students well into the future, she said.
Arteaga agreed that boosting students’ confidence was an essential goal of the program.
“I see them getting in a rhythm. They know what they’re supposed to do now, and their confidence is growing,” said Olson.
About eight students participate in the collaboration on a rotating schedule, according to Arteaga. Recently, the program expanded, allowing the students to stay at Good Things and work for two hours on Fridays, up from one hour during the early days of the collaboration.
The hard work and commitment of the students is especially appreciated by the Good Things staff, Olson said. The students have been helpful and enthusiastic volunteers, added Manager Katie Deabler.
“We love having them here,” she said. “It’s been amazing and our customers have been so supportive.”
Good Things Thrift and Craft Shop is run by and helps finance the nonprofit Medomak Exchange, which also houses local programs like the Waldoboro Free Clothing Closet and food pantry. All sales at the shop, which sells local artisans’ wares as well as donated home goods and craft supplies, benefit the nonprofit.
Arteaga and Deabler both expressed hopes that the program will continue well into the future.
Arteaga said she hopes the students will gain connections through volunteering that translate into future employment and a greater awareness of the range of options available to them beyond high school.
“I hope that it’s something that continues, a partnership that we maintain,” she said.
“It’s been a great collaboration,” said Deabler.
