Soupy Island bowls ’em over

Sheila Groark remembers coming to South Jersey's Soupy Island 50 years ago with her Irish immigrant friends to escape Philadelphia and ride the old carousel.

Groark, now 59 and a resident of Norristown, hopped a ride on the famed 106-year-old carousel again yesterday, the memories flooding back as Campbell Soup Co. unveiled renovations to the 130-year-old park, including a new baseball diamond, soccer field and volleyball court.

"We still talk about Soupy Island - the pool, the soup and crackers, the carousel," she said, recalling how she and friends from her North Philadelphia neighborhood would ride the ferry from Penn Treaty Park to the Soupy Island dock.

Soupy Island isn't really an island. It's a 15-acre park along the Delaware River in Gloucester County that was founded by doctors as a playground and treatment center for underprivileged children, especially those with tuberculosis.

The tuberculosis sanitarium is gone. But the soup kitchen and playground remain – the carousel, two pools and metal slides that delight the 300 to 500 Philadelphia and South Jersey children who visit daily in July and August.

This year, the children's paradise in the Thorofare section of West Deptford glistens with fresh paint, a bigger soup kettle, new ballfields, and a commitment from Camden's biggest private employer.

About 100 Campbell's employees spent nearly 1,000 hours installing the new fields and a new fence, landscaping, and painting, said Denise Morrison, president of Campbell USA. The company also installed a new 100-gallon kettle, promised to donate chicken noodle and vegetable beef soup - a total of about 80 cases per summer - and arranged bus trips for Camden kids for the rest of the summer.

Morrison, who announced Campbell's adoption of Soupy Island yesterday with company officials and local government leaders, said the company's work on Soupy Island has "made a difference for children in our local community."

Camden-based Campbell's had no official affiliation with Soupy Island until now.

The relationship began with a phone call to Campbell's from Bob Perez, who has worked as caretaker of Soupy Island for the last eight years. He asked for a discount on soup that the park gives away to visitors each day at noon.

"I said: 'I need soup,' " he said. "Campbell's said, 'Make a wish list.' "

Perez and his father-in-law, who served as caretaker before him, ladle soup into plastic-foam bowls, let the servings cool on old wooden racks, and then pass them out to eager children through windows in the brick building, which was built in 1896.

"They can have as much as they want," Perez said, "and if they want to fill their pockets with Goldfish . . . we'll let them."

The children appreciated their visit yesterday.

"I play on the swings, I go in the pool, and I have fun with my friends," said Rashay Gambrell, 6, who came with a group from Precious Angels Learning Center in North Philadelphia.

The park, still owned and operated by the private foundation begun by the doctors, welcomes all children, especially underprivileged kids.

"It's the best place ever," said Joy Walters, who came to Soupy Island as a child from nearby Woodbury and now lives across the street. She visited with her daughters yesterday.

"The merry-go-round has one speed, and that's fast," Walters said.

Her daughter Erin, 4, said she loves the "slippery slide," just like her mother, who remembered "flying down on waxed paper" 30 years ago. Today, waxed paper is still given out to children who ask for it, to make their trip down the slide speedier.