This Ties That Bind Us is sponsored by Matt The Carpet Guy.
MILFORD, Del. - The Culture Club PR, a multicultural club based in Milford, is giving children the chance to explore global traditions, languages, and celebrations.
Neyda Albarrán, who was raised in Puerto Rico from a young age, is a pastor and educator who founded the club 12 years ago on the island. She said her vision for the club was also shaped by her time as a missionary and her experiences as a parent.
"My son was in preschool, and I knew that I wouldn't have a chance to travel with him around the world for a couple of years until he grew a little bit, but I had had wonderful experiences traveling around the world, doing missionary work as a minister, and I wanted to expose kids that might not have the opportunity to travel to other cultures to help them appreciate it, accept it, and embrace the beautiful diversity that's in every community," Albarrán explained.
Albarrán has continued to grow the club through different chapters of her life.
She moved to Florida for ministry purposes and quickly noticed a cultural gap among children of Puerto Rican descent.
"Once there, I realized that there were second-generation, third-generation children, a lot of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora there that were out of touch with their cultural roots," Albarrán said. "They knew the popular culture, but they didn't know the history and maybe our roots, indigenous, African, etc.., and so I focused, and I made a shift to kind of gear everything towards teaching the second and third generation Puerto Ricans about their rich history and past and culture and traditions, and so that was a lot of fun."
That experience inspired her to shift the focus of the club's mission, before eventually relocating again. Albarrán moved to Delaware in December 2021, once again for ministry purposes.
"Once here, I couldn't hold back. I had to do something, and I love exposing kids to different cultures," Albarrán explained.
She found Milford to be a diverse and welcoming place for her vision. Since March 2022, The Culture Club PR has been active in Delaware, offering workshops and participating in events, mostly throughout the southern part of the state.
"Milford is already very multicultural, but I love that the kids get to see one another, play with one another, create with one another, sing, and just have a wonderful time together, so that it's more than just like, 'Oh yeah, that group of people live over there. No, I know people from there, and we've played games, and we go to school and just appreciate each other,'" Albarrán added.
Workshops led by the club include hands-on activities that explore cultures from around the world.
"We promote a culture of peace through multicultural learning experiences and celebrations. We do it through games, music, crafts, especially literacy," Albarrán noted.
The club operates out of the second floor of My Sister's Fault in Downtown Milford, but Albarrán said its reach goes beyond those walls.
"We read books from different countries, and we celebrate different cultures," she said. "We do this at our location here... but also, we go to other events, whether they're cultural events, holiday events, school districts, and we share the resources we have and the joy and the love that we have, for all the cultures of the world hoping that kids will be sparked in their cultural curiosity, gain cultural intelligence and also cultural humility."
She emphasized that while Puerto Rican culture is an important part of her own identity, the club welcomes and celebrates cultures from all over the world.
"We do celebrate all cultures. We learn about different countries, and of course, whenever I get a chance, I do a little Puerto Rican activity too, because we do have a lot of Latinos here that appreciate the Puerto Rican culture," Albarrán noted.
Her mission remains rooted in hope and unity, with a strong belief that change begins with children.
"I am a dreamer. We will become that country of unity, harmony, love, diversity, and collaboration, and so I believe it starts with the kids, so I invest as much as I can in instilling the value of unity, togetherness, hope, and the beauty of diversity into these children, whatever way I can," Albarrán added.
