Camden, New Jersey, is now the most impoverished city in the United States with nearly 32,000 of Camden’s residents living below the poverty line

While New Jersey’s unemployment rate is about 9.9 per cent, Camden’s is estimated to be a staggering 19 per cent. Joblessness has been a feature of life in Camden since the city lost most of its manufacturing base in the late 1960’s and 1970’s.

The city is also crippled by crime with 48 homicides recorded already this year, and burglaries and assaults daily occurrences.

But Camden’s residents are pulling together to ensure the disadvantaged don’t go hungry.

Volunteers prepare meals at the Cathedral Kitchen, which was founded in 1976 to help Camden’s poor and disadvantaged

Reformed drug addict Bill Karwoski Jr. eats a free meal from Cathedral Hall

Empty and decrepit homes line Camden’s streets

A 21 year-old addicted to heroin looks for food in a garbage can in Camden, which is now the united States’ most impoverished city

Camden police arrest a youth following a fight. The city has a chronic crime problem with 48 recorded homicides this year alone

Scores of volunteers help out at the Cathedral Kitchen soup kitchen, which serves 300 to 600 meals a day, six days a week, to the hungry.

The Cathedral Kitchen was founded in 1976 and offers a variety of programs and life services to Camden’s poor and disadvantaged.

Even youngsters give up their time to prepare sandwiches for Cathedral Hall, which serves lunch five days a week to thousands of Camden residents having trouble affording food.

A homeless man panhandles on the street in Camden where nearly 32,000 residents are living below the poverty line

Families eat dinner at the Cathedral Kitchen soup kitchen which feeds hundreds of hungry mouths a day, six days a week

A youth volunteer with serves food to the needy and hungry at Camden’s Cathedral Hall

A child walks down a street in impoverished Camden, which sits just over the bridge from more affluent Philadelphia

Volunteers prepare sandwiches for the needy and hungry at Cathedral Hall

A lack of jobs has been a feature of life in Camden since the city lost most of its manufacturing base in the late 60’s and 1970’s

Cooks prepare meals at the Cathedral Kitchen soup kitchen which serves 300 to 600 meals a day to the needy