Twelve students and two teachers from Christian Brothers Academy recently spent six weeks in Camden, N.J. learning about the special challenges that face this poverty stricken city. This is the second year that CBA students went on this mission trip.
The students packaged food, made sandwiches and prepped meals at two food banks. They spent time at St. Bart’s Soul of Camden Summer Program, preparing breakfast, cleaning, gardening with children, mentoring, teaching and playing games. They also helped prepare and distribute meals, participate in social activities and interact with students at Generations Plus, an adult day care program in Pennsauken.
The students spent some time at Genesis Health Care, home for about 80 elderly residents. There, they played games, listened to their stories and intermingled with the individuals. Many of the residents had Alzheimer’s disease. The games played helped to activate their thinking.
“The people we met, spoke with and laughed with showed that even in one of the country’s most broken and dangerous cities, hope remains,” said student Zach Popp. “Despite their circumstances, which are obviously less than ideal, the men and women we met greeted us with smiles and laughter. All of the people we met in Camden represent proof that hope can still live and flourish in even the darkest places.”
Three other Lasallian schools were at the Romero Center with CBA, including St. Joe’s Collegiate Institute (Buffalo), LaSalle Academy (R.I.) and St. John’s College High School (Washington D.C.).
Students attending the mission trip included Patrick Barnaba, Cormac Bowman, TJ LaDuca, Milan Gupta, Alex Jewett, Megan Lynch, Sloane Nicoletti-Watson, Cydavia Patterson, Zach Popp, Nikita Sharkey, Meredith Strott and Justin Strott. The teachers on the trip were Peggy Perkins, director of campus ministry, and Greg Jewett, physical education teacher.
“This one week in Camden was extremely powerful,” Perkins said. “Our eyes were opened to extreme poverty, an abundant spirit of generosity on the part of those able to help, and pockets of hope where transformation has occurred thanks to community programs geared toward empowering others to rise about which had held them down.”
