Eagles Members Use Paintbrushes To Breathe New Life Into North Phila. School
By Steve Patterson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Monday, members of the Philadelphia Eagles traded footballs for paintbrushes to breathe new life into a school in North Philadelphia.
It was the franchise's 18th annual Playground Build.
The Eagles Youth Partnership event put Eagles next to young eagles fans in rehabilitating Prince Hall Elementary. Part of the job included working the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program to paint a giant art piece around the school.
Twenty-four-year-old Raheem Camp led the crew that helped set up the scaffolding and paint the giant work of art. Camp is a product of the Art Program's "Restorative Justice," that takes troubled youth out of the jail system and helps place them in work sites around the city.
"You got a lot of people there that's rooting for you," Camp said about the program. "I don't sell drugs anymore, I don't carry guns. I'm just living a good life. It changed my life."
Camp, a former drug dealer, now does landscaping and carpentry work on the city's nearly 4,000 murals. A job he says he's grateful for, enabling him o give back to his community and provide for his six year old daughter.
"If it wasn't for them, I'd be out in the street or god knows where," he said. "I'd probably be in jail. I'd probably be dead. My life is sparred."
