Kevin Willis still remembers the feeling of excitement as he rode a bus from his summer camp at St. Phillips Baptist Church in Hamilton’s White City neighborhood across town to Steinert High School for swimming lessons. He always wanted to learn how to swim, but wasn’t sure he’d ever have the opportunity.
But Willis learned a lot more than just how to swim that summer. At the John O Wilson Neighborhood Service Center—which was originally hosted in the church—Willis learned the importance of giving back to your community.
“That is probably one of my fondest memories of the center—that there were adults at the center who wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to learn how to swim,” Willis said. “That’s something that you carry with you for the rest of your life.”
The center’s culture of giving back left a mark on Willis, who became a lifeguard for the very center that taught him how to swim. He carried that mentality of helping others throughout his entire life, and he is now serving as the president of the center’s board.
“I felt as though I needed to give back to something that played a positive role in my early years,” Willis said.
Celebrating its 50-year anniversary this year, the John O Wilson Neighborhood Service Center has had an important role in the lives of many Hamilton residents. Executive director Gloria J. Stephens said that 75 percent of the board members attended the center as children or volunteered before joining the board.
“We’ve had volunteers that have been here since the inception, and they’re still supporters,” Stephens said.
The nonprofit center, now located at 169 Wilfred Ave., provides a wide range of services for Hamilton’s low income residents. For seniors, they offer free monthly health screenings and daily lunches. They house a daycare program and summer camp for children. They run a food bank and also help people find and prepare their resumes for jobs.
But Willis said the most important thing the center does is provide Hamilton’s White City residents with an engaging place to come together.
“It’s a major part of the community,” Willis said.
Willis and his older sister Anita Ross grew up two doors down from the center in the church, and he said they would look forward to the little interactions with the other neighborhood children at the center. Whether they were volunteering or playing games in the basement, everyone who visited the center formed a close bond with each other, Willis said.
He also explained that as children, working together with both other people their age and adults taught him the value of teamwork and respect for elders.
“The history of the center from [its inception] to now has been about young people and how do you impact the lives of youth as they grow up to be adults, so at some point they want to give back to the community,” Willis said.
Board member Gary Gray saw that impact first hand. The Hamilton native became a volunteer at the center roughly 35 years ago. He spent his time at the center helping teenagers find summer jobs and he has kept in touch with many of them over the years.
Gray—who has a long career in Hamilton education—was the principal at Wilson Elementary School, and ended up teaching the children of many of the kids he worked with at the center. He said seeing the teenagers he once helped go on to have their own families made him feel “a burst of pride and extreme joy.”
Hamilton’s White City neighborhood extends from the area between South Broad Street, Olden Avenue and Cedar Lane. The center began in the basement of the St. Phillips Baptist Church, when pastor Rev. John O. Wilson wanted to provide childcare for working mothers in the neighborhood who couldn’t afford daycare services.
“His congregation needed child care,” Stephens said. “Young mothers need to go to work, and child care’s expensive, especially if you’re just getting an entry level position.”
Stephens said that around the same time, the federal government started fighting poverty and federal funding became available for programs that offered assistance to low-income families. Wilson and the township came together to apply for the grant money to open the child care program.
Eventually, more and more children and teenagers began going to the center as a way to socialize and volunteer. Before anyone knew it, they were offering classes, trips and assistance to everyone from toddlers to senior citizens.
It wasn’t long before the church was unable to house the expanding services. In the 1970s, then-Mayor Jack Rafferty and the township council dedicated a new building, located at the intersection of Wilfred Avenue and Lily Street, as the John O. Wilson Neighborhood Service Center to honor the man who started it all.
Now, Stephens said anywhere from 200-250 people come through the center daily to drop off their children, use the computer labs or take advantage of the other services provided. The center wants to help as many Hamilton residents as possible, but as a nonprofit they are limited with funding and federal guidelines.
“There are different income guidelines, even sometimes within the same program, depending on where the funding is coming from,” Stephens said.
The service center gets funding from federal, state and county government, as well as donations from residents and locals.
Stephens said the center has a wide range of programs available in an effort to make themselves available to anyone who needs their assistance. The center offers one program that will assist a family with one month’s rent to prevent an eviction. If a person is homeless, the center will provide the first months’ rent. They have another program, that will provide families with money to prevent their utilities from being shut off.
The services have been useful for many residents, with many residents remembering the center’s impact after they’ve stopped using its services.
“We have actually had people that were clients come back and make donations when they get back on their feet,” Stephens said. “That’s a wonderful feeling, it makes it all worthwhile.”
One woman that really stood out to Stephens was a mother who came to the center seeking assistance. Once she got back on her feet, she came back to offer donations for the center’s Thanksgiving meal.
“This was a mother that maybe a year ago couldn’t feed her own family, and now she’s donating a turkey,” Stephens said. “People do remember.”
Hamilton Township Council President Ileana Schirmer, who is also on the board of directors, said the center benefits the entire community by helping make families stronger.
“This center here helps people maintain a lifestyle,” Schirmer said. “Not a great lifestyle, but they could be in a very temporary bad situation and the center provides that extra service, that extra care, to get the families back on track. If we don’t take care of the children as they’re growing up they could become such a problem, and that impacts the community.”
While Willis no longer lives in Hamilton—he moved to Delran with his wife Karen and their four children—he still has an active part in the White City community. His mother, Christie Louise, who turns 91 in April, still lives in Hamilton. She used to volunteer at the center, and now she attends the senior Bible study. For his family, the center has been invaluable.
When asked if he would be where he is today without the help of the center, Willis paused before saying, “I don’t think so. I think because it developed me as a person, and it opened doors for me in many areas that I don’t think I would’ve had the opportunity to open.”
Back when he was attending the summer camp at the center, he met Mr. Sullivan, Hamilton High West’s mechanical drawing teacher, who was working at the summer camp. Willis took an interest in mechanical drawing, and began exploring construction and engineering. He decided to study it further at Mercer County Community College, and he’s currently a project manager for a Cherry Hill construction manager firm.
After the center playing such a pivotal role in his life, Willis now hopes to inspire the next generation of White City residents.
“We’re trying to set the path for the next generation coming behind us because we want them to have the same [sense of] care for the center, and that’s important,” he said.
The John O Wilson Neighborhood Service Center, located at 169 Wilfred Ave., is hosting several 50-year anniversary celebrations throughout the year. Phone: (609) 393-6480. Web: jownsc.org.
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