The Neumann Retreat—
Getting Dirty for a Green Cause
Picture thirteen co-eds huddled together in a freshly re-made room, some snuggled under colorful quilts, some in typical end-of-the-day sweats and hoodies, gathered in front of a television on a chilly Thursday night. Typical scene, you might think—there’s no tearing young people from their media bubbles.
Well, this particular night could be called anything but typical, because this group of young Neumann University underclassmen and women were being immersed in the stuff of South Camden’s gritty urban environment for a week-long service retreat from their classroom studies. The activity-packed week, which began on Friday night, March 4th with Sacred Heart Church’s Lenten Soup and Lecture Series, gave them a peek at this Waterfront South parish and its typically interactive parish life. “So friendly” one tired young woman said of the church-goers she met. Her comments, among others, came after a group viewing and discussion of the “The Story of Stuff”, a mini-documentary commenting on the excessive waste, pollution and the resulting environmental ills produced by our over-production and consumption of limited resources. In a concise yet upbeat format, the film gives hard statistics and proposes practical ways we can lessen our carbon footprints on an already over-trodden environment. One outspoken young man, Bill, added that the film shocked him, especially that “we continue to make products knowing they will be obsolete.” Brittney sat quietly, then spoke, saying that she felt most of her friends have grown up with the “Wal-Mart mentality”—that getting more for your money was smart-- but that the film showed the wastefulness in that attitude. Heads nodded as she spoke, others saying this whole week raised their awareness about social injustice.
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Elizabeth, a pretty, outspoken voice for many in her group, stressed that “there are so many things we can do; if ignorance is there, it’s up to us to share (our knowledge) with others and to make changes.” not just in their school environment, but in their communities as well.
This group admits that they could be doing a lot more to change their environmental impact for the better. While the students are encouraged to recycle on campus, and some have been to New Orleans for post-Katrina clean-up and building efforts, all admitted they’d never participated in such an intense program back in their own neighborhood. According to Director of NU’s Campus Ministry Melissa Hickey and her assistant Sister Mary Beth, student groups have taken part in community projects in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania, a blighted area with environmental issues similar to South Camden’s, only not as large or so blatantly ignored by the powers that be. The NOLA trips and projects like ours, says Hickey, are partly subsidized by a campus program, since the school’s student population, mostly drawn from the Philadelphia, Wilmington and South Jersey area, probably couldn’t otherwise attend. Sister Mary Beth, a dimunitive Sister of St. Joseph whose order has been committed to Catholic social justice since the university’s founding, fully endorses the CfET’s efforts and its hands-on methods of teaching and affecting positive changes in the local community.
The Road Forward ~
By all accounts, these Neumann co-eds will bring home from their week-long immersion into this Waterfront South neighborhood, lots of motivation and inspiration to make important changes. Whether these changes be personal, campus-wide or in their communities—they feel compelled to think and act more responsibly. When they leave here, they’ll have time to talk about the whole experience and what affected them. Some will remember the utter warmth and welcome they received from Sacred Heart’s parishioners at Sunday mass.
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Others will talk about the series of week-long activities led by CfET’s Sustainability Director Andrea Ferich in the large Greenhouse or in the Emerald Street gardens, or baking bread in their handmade outdoor ovens. Still others will buzz about the grueling physical regimes for the cause: doing clean up and egg collecting at the chicken coops, weeding and trash cleaning at the neighborhood parks and empty lots, shoveling piles of demolition debris as part of a conversion of an old fire station on Broadway into a community Arts Center, or working with Heart of Camden Housing’s staff refurbishing the old Star Theater-cum-Community Sports Center among other ambitious undertakings.
Whatever it is that struck these bright beacons of hope for our city’s future, we believe the week was “life-changing” as Elizabeth said for her classmates. That, and the knowledge that it takes true passion and commitment to transform a downtrodden neighborhood into a greener, more environmentally just place to live.
Contributed by:
Susan Hitchcock