From an outsider's point of view, Camden is seen as a city in decay. A once vibrant beacon of light in America now filled with blight, poverty and up until recently, the most dangerous city in the country.
But what is happening in a vacant lot at the corner of Broadway & Pine is extraordinary.
A trash strewn and weed infested lot has been adopted by the community and is being transformed into a food producing garden.
With the help of Americorps members and the Camden City Garden Club, the Puerto Rican Unity for Progress group is teaching families and, in particular children, how to grow their own food.
"They marvel at the miracle of a seed germinating in as little as 2 or 3 days and turning into a vegetable," said Mike Devlin of the Camden City Garden Club.
With truckloads of Mushroom Compost brought in from Kennett Square, the garden club is teaching them how to do it right; growing cabbage, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and collards.
"People can grow enough food here easily for 12-15 families," said Devlin.
The projects value is all the more graphic when you consider that Camden, a city of 80,000 has only one full service super market.
But that's not even considering the positive impact it's having on these young impressionable minds.
"It enriches the community, it gets the community involved, it lets these children know that we care. We care and they care about their community," said Councilwoman Dana Burley.
They're just small plants, but in a few weeks, they'll be full grown plants and by the summer, they'll be having community garden BBQ's where these children will be eating the food that they themselves helped produce.
But the idea is far from being novel. As a matter of fact, this is only one of 90 community gardens that the garden club has established in Camden over 27 years thanks to the generosity of donors.
Further, a study by Penn calls it one of the fastest growing community garden programs in the country.
In a city that has seen more than its share of troubling news, the community garden offers a ray of new hope for children. They're not just learning how to grow their own food, it may also serve as a road map to grow their futures.
