Camden 2017: What an Amazing Experience

At our final evening reflection on Saturday night, we were asked to share how we witnessed God this weekend in Camden. It was so affirming to hear students speak about their weekend and the impact it had upon them – not just Notre Dame students, but also the students from St. John the Baptist on Long Island and Loyala from NYC who were with us this weekend. It was pretty obvious to me that the goals and objectives of this inner-city service and social justice experience were met.

Reflecting back on the day (Saturday), ND was assigned to the Neighborhood Center in south Camden. This organization does everything from provide free meals to run a teen center to offe afternoon young child programming and activities. And they’ve been doing it since 1913 in one form or another. They even have an amazing urban garden which provides the food cooked during the warm weather months.

At Neighborhood Center we met the program coordinator Vedra. Vedra shared her story with us – she grew up in Camden, went to college and inti the business world, toured the US and the world with Cirque de Soleil as a singer. A detail she left out, but was uncovered by the diploma hanging in her office, was that she graduated from Harvard. Camden to Harvard and ultimately back to Camden to serve those in her community. Wow. Powerful stuff.

At The Center, we were tasked with cleaning out the panty. You see, the pantry had too many unwanted guests, and not the ones that walk on two legs. I have to say what an amazing job our crew did considering several of the guests were scurrying for cover and some of their departed relatives were left behind. We ended up removing a significant amount of unuseable food and filling a dumpster. I’ve done a good amount of service work in my day and I can confidently say that this project was one of the messier and probably most difficult one to do. A huge shout out to the ND crew for their amazing work, without complaint, to help make the facility better for the program and the people it serves.

On our first night, one of the Romero Center staff mentioned that if Jesus was physically among us today, where would he be? Quite possibly, he would be with His people and serving those who need it most – maybe right there in Camden. Wit that idea in mind, back to that reflection question from earlier. Where have I witnessed God this weekend? Quite simply, in all the people I’ve met. From the staff at the Romero Center, to the staff and clients at our work site on Friday, to Vedra at Neighborhood on Saturday, to the entire group of students and chaperones in Camden this weekend. I am proud of all these students for traveling far out of their comfort zone time and again and for learning valuable lessons about justice, hunger, poverty, compassion, concern, conviction … and most of all, the importance of serving all.

Big thanks to the staff at the Romero Center, Patrick, Richard and Theresa, and to our amazing ND crew here this weekend: Areli Anderson, Margaux Atkins, Brianni Davallier, Grace Gallagher, Karen Garza, Jalyssa Howell, Delanie O’Keefe, Nicole Posada and, of course, my amazing service partner and wife, Joanna. Thanks for the memories and the valuable lessons, Camden, in life, service and justice. I know we are all looking forward to carrying on the Camden-spirit back home …