Camden/Joshua's work

I think that we have mentioned the abandoned house in Camden that Joshua and his team of community leaders have been trying to clean up. The house is located next to a church and school . The group is working to either demolish or actually clean up the lot so that there will be fewer drug dealers, users and random people around the house.

It looks something like this:

Yeah, it's gross. (This is the place that "boasted" of all the drug baggies, which were in a picture a few months ago on this blog.)

Two weeks ago, along with a bunch of other volunteers, Joshua and I spent our Saturday morning helping to clear out the fallen trees and other debris in the back yard. By the end of the morning, the yard was much less of a hiding place for individuals. It was fun!

While I don't have any real before and after photos of the house and the progress that was made, below are some photos of Joshua organizing the heck out of the Cramer Hill area of Camden.

Because Joshua is a properly-trained PICO organizer who strives to be behind the scenes, he rarely gets any credit for the work. But really, he is the most amazingly dedicated guy I've ever met.

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Francis House among services city parish provides from Camden's Courier-Post

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In cooperation with Camden Churches Organized for People, or CCOP, St. Anthony officials hope to demolish a nearby vacant house and build a multipurpose center for children, Weiksnar said. About 15 volunteers worked Sept. 15 to clean up the site.
Brother Jerry Hudson, a friar at St. Anthony, noted that the house has been a spot for drug dealing. The property is just 28 feet away from the St. Anthony parish school, which is at 2824 River Ave., so Hudson says the project is high on the school's priority list.
"The safety of the kids is more important than the building that's standing there," he said.
Church officials hope the project will make the adjacent property safer for children such as 8-year-old Vianca Salcedo, one of about 174 students at St. Anthony school.
"I like to learn about religion (and) how we learn about what God did and what he created and the scripture," Vianca said.

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