This weekend, for the 20th year, the stars will be back again, pushing a message of peace. But Mack is not celebrating.
"This is an event, I always say every year, I hope to stop doing for this purpose because if we keep doing it that means the violent situation is not going away and I want it to go away," Mack said.
This year the star roster includes a first time visitor, actor Ving Rhames.
It's chilling when he shows the stab wound on his chest and a slash mark on his neck, reminders of a youth that almost ended with him in prison for attempted murder. He sees this weekend as part of a divine payback for his own turnaround.
"Maybe God blesses me with some talent to be an actor, but not just for acting. Maybe it presents a platform for me, because kids do look up to us, they see you on stage, literally, they see you in a movie, they are literally looking up to you," Rhames said.
This weekend there will be lots of fun, like a rap concert in Atlantic City and a celebrity gala, but there will also be visits to local prisons and a youth detention center.
"So through these three days, we're going to get an opportunity to talk to them, just get them to think about themselves and try to see they have value. I always say, if you look at something that has value to it, you're going to take care of it," Mack said.
Actor Allan Payne, who grew up partially in Pennsauken, has been a regular since the first Mack Celebrity Weekend. He says he keeps coming back because, unlike most celebrity charities, this is about the grit, not the glamour.
"If we go to the prison, we go to the boy's home, if we go to some other places. we're at the radio station, we go to south street, we go to the neighborhoods, I mean, it's for real," Payne said.
And hopefully, peace on the streets can be for real too.
