Kensington

Colorful painted tires mark the location of a park in progress where a fire had once destroyed several housing units. The Simple Way is in the process of finishing the space for the residents of Kensington, the neighborhood in Philadelphia where the organization serves. (Photo courtesy of The Simple Way)

On June 13, we arrived in Kensington, a former industrial neighborhood in north Philadelphia now abandoned by the factories that once thrived there.

In Kensington, narrow row houses line the sidewalks as far as your eye can see. Cars park bumper to bumper on the streets. Litter is scattered along the curbside. The neighborhood is one of the busiest drug trafficking centers in Philadelphia.

What brought us to Kensington? The Simple Way; a Christian organization that sends people to live among and serve the people of Kensington on a long-term basis. It’s been doing this for more than 10 years. The organization’s mission is to love God, love others and follow Jesus. Simple enough.

We stayed one night in The Simple Way’s Hospitality House. On a bedroom wall in the House, these words described the neighborhood:

Formerly a factory town, the surrounding neighborhood is called Kensington. The row houses, like the one you are in, were built around the factories, some by the factory owners themselves. Over the past 40 years, many of the factories have moved out of the neighborhood, and we have lost over 200,000 jobs. You can see over 500 abandoned factories and over 20,000 abandoned houses. This neighborhood is one of the most ethnically diverse in Philadelphia, with a pretty even mix of African American, Latino (mostly Puerto Rican and Dominican), and white folks (many Polish and Irish descendants of the factory days) … While it has its struggles, we believe Kensington is poised for a resurrection.

I can’t say I had a great night of sleep in Kensington — noises on the streets outside the Hospitality House were pretty loud well past 3 a.m.! But I won’t soon forget the neighborhood and the people we met at The Simple Way. Their hearts were truly in their mission. It felt real and genuine. It was encouraging for me to be there. If I had the opportunity to go again, I would.