BOCA CHICA, Dominican Republic -- For the first time since their arrival in the Dominican Republic, members of the Wabash College baseball team were divided into separate sides, based simply on paint colors.
The Little Giants were set to paint the exterior of a house of a local resident and the colors represented their responsibilities: blue was the house color; white represented the trim. Over the course of nearly 90 minutes Wednesday afternoon the nearly 50 members of the traveling party painted that house and trim.
“It's a good project because it's something these guys don't need a ton of skill to complete,” said Sam LeBeau, the trip coordinator for the Dominican Baseball Camp. “It's not like building a house, but at the same time, you can see in an hour or so that, wow, we did something good and impactful.”
LeBeau does this outing with many of the college teams that travel to the D.R. to play games and take in the culture. Once homeowners are identified and approved, groups usually paint homes in splashy blue, green, or pink. The owner of this home, a woman in her mid-70s, chose blue.
“I definitely have a sense of accomplishment,” said Rhys Anderson ’28, from East Thetford, Vermont. “When we arrived, this was unpainted, completely unfinished, and now it’s done. There's something really cool about a bunch of guys hopping off a bus, and getting something done.”
Wabash baseball coach Jake Martin likes projects like this because it has a way of identifying leaders. Just like on the diamond, certain people might have more experience and are more willing to share that knowledge and help others along, like Tanner Turnpaugh ’27, from Carroll County, Indiana.
Turnpaugh is a pitcher and an art minor with plenty of experience with a brush and canvas, as well as house painting. He wasn’t shy about helping his teammates along.
“There is a technique to getting into those nooks and crannies that some guys don't have,” he said. “I tried to help out where I could and suggested how to hold a brush. We managed to get 48 guys out there working as efficiently as possible to help someone else. It was a good feeling,”
Turnpaugh appreciated that the home was located well outside the beaches of Boca Chica because it gave him a better sense of daily life.
That thought and the painting performance were enough to give the Little Giants a winning feeling this afternoon.
“It does feel like a win,” said Martin. “We’re fortunate to be on this trip and one of the key aspects is to learn more about the people and the environments that surround the baseball fields. I’m pleased we did this because it’s a great team building activity, it connects us with the local community, and it also helps to identify and grow leaders.”
Anderson saw the bigger picture.
“We’re blessed with the opportunity to be here,” he said. “It gives us a new perspective on our lives back home and the people here in the Dominic Republic. We get to incorporate a lot of baseball into this trip, which is a lot of fun, but we also get to see those other sides and that's really valuable.”