Every Saturday morning, our volunteer team of medical students sets up on the corner of Atlantic Avenue and South 6th Street in Camden alongside Agape Project, a grassroots harm reduction group, offering food, supplies, and free street-side health care to neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Camden is a city on the water. The Delaware River, Cooper River, and Newton Creek are all a short walk or ride from our corner. And the hardest part of street life that nobody talks about is the hours: waiting for a shelter to open, for a clinic to call your number, for the day to end.

With $1,000, we're starting the Camden Fishing Club. Members get a rod and reel to keep, a stocked tackle kit to share, and a laminated map of fishing spots within walking distance. For members who want one, we'll prepay their New Jersey fishing license and help them register on the spot. For someone who is used to being processed by systems, an official document with your name on it that says you're allowed to be somewhere is no small thing. Members without documents fish free too: New Jersey charges nothing for anglers over 70, and the state's free fishing days give the whole club license-free days on the water.

Because we're future physicians, every rod comes with something only our team would think to include: a simple card explaining which local fish are safe to eat and which carry contamination advisories, because some of our friends will eat what they catch, and they deserve to do it safely.

Fishing is patience, purpose, food, and peace. It's hours that pass because you chose how to spend them. We hand out survival every Saturday. This is the first thing we'd hand out that feels like living.