The Dragon Boat Races represent much more than just a one-day event. The racing teams and their partner programs work together for two years engaging in many types of activities to benefit Catholic Charities’ clients. DAP and the Esperanza Center are a perfect example of such a partnership. This summer, the two groups have been exchanging visits to learn about one another. On July 17, DAP hosted Esperanza Center (EC) staff for a tour of the DAP headquarters. DAP is a leading marketer of caulks, sealants, adhesives, insulating foams, spackling, glazing, and other general patch and repair products. The DAP world headquarters are in Baltimore. The favorite tour activity was the “Clap-in”, where all DAP the employees stopped their work promptly at 11 a.m. to meet the EC representatives.

After the introductions, DAP Dragon Boats “Cruise Director” Pat Kaack led the 100 DAP employees in an exciting cheer. For Pat, the partnership with Esperanza is especially meaningful, since he was part of the DAP team who repainted the 2nd floor of the Esperanza Center in 2010.

The tour was quite informative for the EC staff, who learned all about caulking. They were interested to see the sample set-ups, the seemingly odorless production lab, and the endless marketing, operations and customer service cubicles. Most impressive was the cleanliness of the facility – it was inviting, yet spotless. In fact, there were only a few things on the walls – two large DAP signs, and 5 showcases from past Dragon Boats events!

On August 13, nine DAP participants visited Esperanza Center for a presentation, tour and lunch. The day began with presentations by Francisco Plasencia, Volunteer/Outreach Coordinator, on the ESL and Community Services programs, and Jennifer Jaimes, Staff Attorney, educated the visitors about DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

After the presentation, Director Val Twanmoh and Administrative Assistant Beth Awalt led the DAP visitors on a tour of the Center. The DAP visitors were able to see all four programs at Esperanza Center: Community Services, ESL, Health Services and Immigration Legal Services.

At the end of the visit, Evelyn Rosario and her team of volunteer chefs cooked an authentic Latino meal. The delicious meat, rice, tortillas, salad, guacamole, salsa and dessert were delicious! Esperanza Center staff distributed lanyards to the DAP crew, since they are “part of the Esperanza family,” said Val Twanmoh.

The DAP team and the Esperanza staff are looking forward to continuing their fun, productive partnership into the future, beginning with fundraising for the Dragon Boat Races. You can follow the progress of the DAP fundraising effort online.