April 1- 7, 2004

city beat

Fineprint

Less words, more story.

Redemption Songs

Back in the ’60s and ’70s, Howard Tate was an on-the-charts R&B crooner. Two weeks ago, after disappearing amid rumors that he’d actually died, Tate placed his tunes in the ears of a South Jersey audience.

That a local had the staying power to draw a crowd decades after his heyday isn’t all that unusual. But Tate’s story is.

Tate didn’t take a musical hiatus by his own bidding; rather, drugs forced him out of the game and onto the streets of Camden. Though he’s now basking in the respect of a 2004 Grammy nomination for Rediscovered, his first release in 30 years, Tate recently decided to give something back to the people who basically saved his life. To that end, he headlined a concert organized to raise money for the Leavenhouse shelter in Camden.

“When I got addicted to narcotics, naturally, I started buying drugs in Camden,” Tate says of the time he spent roaming the streets until he fell asleep on the ground regardless of the weather. “I know what is to want that dope. I know how it calls in the midnight hour.”

Luckily for Tate, he found both religion and Leavenhouse, a food pantry and shelter that provides sustenance and sanctuary for Camden’s homeless.

“Lord, help me. Lord, help me. I don’t want to be a junkie,” Tate recalls of his thoughts during that hopeless decade.

“Leavenhouse is an intentional community of volunteers,” says founding member Tom Knochee, adding that people who stay there have found inspiration in Tate’s story.

This year, volunteers are raising funds for Christine’s Corner, a house designed to accommodate larger families in its five two-bedroom apartments and a one-bedroom apartment. Hence, the Tate concert.

Organizers said they’re unsure how much money they raised at the March 20 event, but Knochee estimated Wednesday that between 500 and 600 people attended. Tickets cost $25 or $30 for the show, although Leavenhouse also distributed 300 tickets free to homeless people.

The Christine’s Corner project costs more than $160,000 and is partially funded by the federal government and other entities.

“Leavenhouse served its first meal in 1981,” says Knochee, recalling the time when the food-stamp program was slashed and jobs began leaving Camden. Back then, about 200 people came in for meals.

The seven members who live in the houses today volunteer in the kitchen and help manage the facility. Leavenhouse doesn’t only help those who need a home, but also helps those who need a stronger voice. Members have joined grassroots movements focusing on workers rights and the social and economic policies that make people homeless. “We need much more than patches, we need the whole coat,” reads a poster there. “We need much more than jobs, we need the factories and land and power of the state.”

“Our ultimate mission is to give someone a decent meal and present them decent housing,” says William Wright, a resident manager. “I expect the best out of people. I look for the best out of people.”

Not only did Tate’s appearance inspire Leavenhouse residents, but he says they returned the favor. He hopes one day to build a rehabilitation center so he can continue giving back to the community.

“Leavenhouse is doing a great job,” he says, calling the concert the most fulfilling of his life. “but it can’t do it all.”