After almost 50 years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will follow in his late father’s footsteps by coming to Camden City and urging people to respond to the environmental challenges of the time.
Kennedy’s father, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, visited Camden on April 1, 1968, shortly before his assassination in Los Angeles.
His son, now an activist, nationally syndicated radio host and attorney, will be the featured speaker at the Center for Environmental Transformation’s fundraiser next month.
Kennedy has made a name for himself as a strong advocate of the environment, clean water and clean air.
The event is being held on Saturday, Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron of the environment. Kennedy wrote a children’s book about St. Francis that was published in 2005.
The annual event will be held at 3 p.m. at Sacred Heart Church, 1739 Ferry Ave., in Camden.
According to event chair and CFET Board Member Cathy Nevins, Kennedy Jr.’s, talk, “Our Environmental Destiny,” will be followed by a signing of his books and documentary films at a reception at the Michael J. Doyle Field House. At the reception there will be representatives from area environmental advocacy groups.
CFET — a non-profit organization — is an environmental retreat center with an urban farm located in the city that educates people to practice a more environmentally responsible way of living. Since its inception in 2007, CFET has become an agent for environmental justice in the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden where residents live close to a sewage treatment plant, an incinerator, the world’s largest licorice processing facility, a cement manufacturing facility, scrap metal recycling facility, two Superfund sites and 28 other contaminated sites.
CFET offers environmental education, employment, youth leadership training and a weekly farmers market, working with neighbors and encouraging them to engage in actions that address the environmental challenges with which they live. Young people are taught how to work CFET’s gardens, how to harvest and prepare food, how to work together and acquire skills in business strategies and even receive training at Villanova University in business management. All of these programmatic elements are designed to open up new possibilities for Camden youth.
Those interested in sponsorship opportunities for CFET’s 2014 fundraiser are asked to email Cathy Nevins at canevins@verizon.net or call 856-816-6373. For more information about the program and about tickets, visit CFET’s website at www.cfet.org.
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