Love, says the Rev. Eric Johnson, is an action word, and he and his newly formed Strength to Love community group are planning to show that they care by taking action to improve living conditions for low-income Mount Holly residents.
Mr. Johnson is pastor of the Strength to Love Church, a non-denominational church that he started two years ago and that holds services at the F.W. Holbein School on Levis Drive. He was born and raised in Mount Holly and still lives there today.
The idea to start the community group grew out of Mr. Johnson's concern that residents had lost pride in where they were living.
A rising crime rate, increased drug use, dirty streets and racial problems contributed to the problem, Johnson said.
"We are the most technologically advanced nation in the world, but socially we're bankrupt," he said. "I want to see things return to the way they were."
Mr. Johnson's group is made up of about 20 tenants of the Mount Holly Gardens, and the first of their efforts focused on upgrading living conditions in that apartment complex.
The Gardens were built in the 1950s and first housed servicemen stationed at Fort Dix and McGuire Air Force Base. At that time, they were a real showplace, said Mr. Johnson.
Many of these mortgages were assumed by low-income residents or landlords in the 1960s, and today most of the apartment-complex tenants are low-income.
On July 11, the group met with township manager Alan Feit and a rental manager, Anna Nemeth, representing the Gardens' biggest landlord, Fry Realty. Fry owns about 25 percent of the complex's 400 apartments, said Feit.
After what Mr. Johnson called a heated discussion, Fry agreed to help renovate the exteriors of 10 apartments per month.
Each month, the Strength to Love group will select the 10 apartments it believes needs renovation the most, and Fry will supply the materials and the workers.
Feit said the agreement was not carved in stone. If tenants wish to do the repairs themselves, Feit said, they can. What is important is that the lines of communication are now open, he said.
Feit and Mr. Johnson said that the meeting ironed out many of the differences between Fry and its tenants.
"Everybody came away from that meeting with a positive attitude," said Feit. "This is the most effective way to change things - neighbors helping neighbors."
