How did DSW get to Camden?
Camden, NJ, has been listed among the poorest of US cities for 40 years. It is a modest sized city across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Like many US cities, industry and jobs left, property values dropped, buildings aged, and drugs entered the picture. Perhaps the surest indicator that Camden is at a low point is that an almost universal goal that residents aspire to is to get out of Camden. Despite all this, the city continues to be an entryway for new immigrants trying to make a home in the US. Perhaps ironically, but definitely thankfully, there are many service groups here who are committed to this community—to help people advance —or at least to cope and to survive. The Oblates DeSales Service Works program has joined this effort to bring the clear power of Salesian spirituality and an organized outreach program to the good work going on here.
