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Camden Has Fastest Growing Community Gardens in US

A University of Pennsylvania study has found that community gardens are a significant source of food for people in Camden.

KYW's Pat Loeb reports Camden has been labeled the poorest small city, the most dangerous one. Now Penn professor Dominic Vitiello says it can add a more positive superlative -- fastest growing community garden city in the country:

"Community gardening has just boomed in Camden."

Vitiello says community gardeners grew more than 30,000 pounds of food in 2009, benefiting more than just the gardeners:

"Every gardener we spoke with shares their harvest with other people who are hungry."

Vitiello credits the Camden City Garden Club with promoting and helping start vegetable plots all over the city. President Mike Devlin says the club added more than 20 gardens this summer:

"The interest is growing and the enthusiasm is and I don't see the end to it."

Devlin says, with only one supermarket in the city, the gardens are an oasis in Camden's food desert.

For more information, go to camdenchildrensgarden.org.

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