Within a year or two, most are gone, back to other cities or small Midwestern towns. Many will apply to graduate school and wind up in careers far from Camden.
But some stay, taken in by the city and determined to make a difference.
'People are the same'
In the summer of 2009, Joshua Dupuis' father drove him the five hours from Springfield, Mass., and moved him into an old rowhouse in Cramer Hill, a predominantly African American and Hispanic neighborhood in North Camden.
"I definitely stand out here," said Dupuis, 23. "I'll walk down the street and people are really friendly. But I get some looks."
Dupuis had signed up to be a Franciscan volunteer, even though he isn't Catholic. He attended a Jesuit school, St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, and liked the Catholic concept of service. After the Peace Corps rejected him because of a heart condition, he was recruited by the Franciscans to spend a year living simply and dedicating himself daily to making the community a better place.
His mother has worried. Before returning to New England, his father called her to tell her about their son's new house, but he left out the part about the burned-out houses they passed on the drive in.
"I think he told her, 'It's not the place you dream of dropping your kid off, but it's not too bad,' " Joshua Dupuis said.
Some weeks he doesn't take a day off.
He works in the community garden, runs a basketball clinic for neighborhood children, picks up trash in Von Nieda Park, and takes food to neighbors when he has extra, or even when he doesn't.
When the weather's hot he dresses in shorts and flip flops. And because he is so polite and welcoming, he seems to have been plucked from the welcome desk of a beach resort.
