"The  Wyeth Wyverns have been a part of the Festival since 2003.  By assembling a team of 24 individuals each year, we have been able to cross department boundaries, and span physical distance between our campuses.  People who never would have met one another in their day-to-day business are now sharing something so uncommin in today's professioanl world – true friendship.  Team members who have left Wyeth remain in touch, and go to great lengths to remain a part of the Wyverns.

We started out as a corporate team, but we have grown into something much greater.  We are a true team that just happens to be racing as a corporation.  We have grown together, won together, lost together, but most of all, have enjoyed every moment on and off the water as the Wyeth Wyverns.

We enter the boat as twenty, but we work together as one."

Bob Mina, Wyeth Wverns

"As the 2008 Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival approaches, very rapidly I might add, I really wanted to take this opportunity to let you know about what a truly fantastic experience we had last year.  Over the last couple of years, the GSK Firedragons ~ EH?! have chosen the PIDBF as our "away" regatta of choice for several reasons.  For us, it is an adventure!  We pile into minivans at 5 AM on the Friday morning and hit the road eager for the excitement of it all!  On the way down, we do the outlets, malls, and Denny's, of course, for breakfast….YUM!

  Once we get to the hotel in Philly, we settle into our rooms and then venture on to "size up" the race course.  Here is where the excitement really begins to build for us.  It is such a beautiful site for a dragon boat festival, and we are so thrilled to actually just be there!  The next day, arriving at the course is such a rush!  Trying to find parking, making sure we haven't fogotten anything, where is our tent, is everyone here??!! 

 But then I look around at all the teams and the spectators and the volunteers.  Everyone is so friendly and smiley.  They are genuinely happy to see you, happy you are here.  We are welcomed with open arms, food, beer, and candy … it's great!!  This is what a dragon boat festival should be.  The competition is great but there is still a huge FUN factor in it all.  I truly wish all the festivals we participate in could be like this.  No politics, no posturing, very little stress, just the sport and what it stands for.  You guys could teach the world alot about how to set up and run a dragon boat Festival.  I cannot wait to do it all over again this October!

Robyn Trudel, GSK Firedragons ~ EH?!!

"I was one of the steerspeople who came down from Toronto … (lane 5/red boat).  I have been to many festivals, and this was one of the better ones that I have ever attended!  The teams were fabulous in every way.  The volunteers went beyond what they were asked to do, and even though many had never seen the sport, they were enthusiastic about what they were doing.  The race venue was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, with the starting lines at the Strawberry Mansion bridge under the American flag!  The tail gate parties were a first for me, and many of the teams were very inviting after the race, and very appreciative of our hard work.  152 teams/3 races/in 1 day … in the record books.  Philadelphia is a great place to visit!!  So, thanks  to ALL of you for organizing such a GREAT event … a memorable weekend.

 Stan Wolofsky, GWN Staff/Steersperson

"The Dragon Boat Festival is one of my top 10 most memorable times of the year.  It brings together fun competition, good friends and tons of laughs!"

Mary O'Connor – Villanova River Cruisers

"I wanted to help but did not have any boating experience.  The launch driver volunteers for the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival have a comprehensive training program that explained procedures step by step. With their dedication to providing on water and written instruction, I am now an official launch driver and volunteer. They gave me the confidence to try something new while enjoying the peacefulness of the Schuylkill River."

Trudy Pacella – Villanova River Cruisers

"Being in the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival for the past four years has been a blast! I have met new friends, learned more about teamwork, and enjoyed summer evenings and an October Saturday on the Schuylkill River!"

Carole Graham - Graham’s Crackers I & II

"Sunoco, Inc. was honored to be part of the Inaugural Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival on the Schuylkill.  Philadelphia has a long history with the rowing sports, and now we can add “paddling” to the list.  It is a great event.  For the participants, it is a wonderful experience too.  Twenty-two people paddling, drumming or steering together is a wonder to behold.  Done well, it’s awesome.  For beginners, maybe not so beautiful but it sure was fun.  For our team, helping out with the Challengers race (mentally and physically challenged young /adult paddlers) was the best part of the day.  We will be back!"

Don Verdiani – Sunoco Ultra Warriors

"I started as a volunteer, then my sister and I formed our own (mostly family) team.  I'm in my 50's, and was never on a sports team, and never dreamed I'd get the chance to be ON (not just beside) the Schuylkill River.  Dragon Boating gave me the chance to do these two wonderful things!  It's never too late to try something new.  I look forward to my team's fifth festival this fall.  Many thanks to the network of folks – led by Carol Lee – who make this wonderful experience possible."

Ailene Dunlap – The Rowing Stones

"My company got involved with the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival two years ago and it's never been the same around here.  I am not even a paddler, yet.  I work behind the scenes and I'm part of the tent orchestration, which as it turns out is just as much fun and just as spirited as the races.  The event has pulled our company together in a whole different way, bringing teamwork and family together.  There are no titles out there on or by the river, just people, kids, grandparents, parents and co-workers  all sharing in a common goal – living life.  We love the festival and we'll be back bigger and better than ever this year. Read on:

Stonhard’s interest in the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival began two years ago when our CEO, David Reif’s, daughter participated in a Dragon Boat race in Baltimore. We became very excited about the idea of being part of what seemed like a happening in our own city. However, when I called to register I discovered that we were late in the season and were put on a waiting list.  Several days later a call arrived from Festival Director,  Carol Lee Linder, one of the most inspiring and heartening woman I have ever met. Carol Lee announced our acceptance into the festival. And nothing at Stonhard has been the same since that phone call… We called ourselves the Stondragons and we certainly understood the team concept. After all we are a sales organization, entrenched in the idea of working together to get results. It’s why we’ve been around so long…85 years. Still, this event was an out of the ordinary undertaking for our company. We host parties and a Phillies outing each year, and we even have softball team, but this was entirely different. Our team came together quickly and came from all departments. Our CEO and captain were clear from the beginning, instructing us that our mission was to have fun. Okay, admittedly we wanted to win, but it was much more about bringing our group together for a common goal.  On October 6, 2007, we assembled at 6:30 am on the heavily fogged shores of the Schuylkill River for our first Dragon Boat Festival. The team lined up as the banks of the river gradually came to life. Thousands of red and yellow leaves bordered the Schuylkill, their golden hue reflecting off the water. We watched American flags graciously hang from the ornate Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Our riverside tent was crammed with backpacks, pennants, cases of water bottles and catered food. I was a behind the scenes coordinator and not on the race team so, I can humbly state that what we lacked in experienced we made up for in snappy attire. The racers sported black warm up jackets and pants with a brazen, green and gold Stondragon logo embroidered on the shoulder and matching hats. When the temperatures warmed up to a toasty 70, the jackets were removed and the team showed off their sleek, logoed sport tees.  All the Stondragons costuming and special effects were created in-house with our graphic designer at the helm. The team component to this event started long before our paddles ever hit the water. The Stonhard tent was open to everyone in Stonhard. We encouraged employees to bring family and friends.  In fact, the day before the race we displayed our StonDragon banner on the front lawn of our corporate headquarters and played the Rocky theme song over our PA system. And it worked—people came, to the tune of 150 people. Our tent was a sea of young and old in StonDragon t-shirts eating soy-soaked potstickers, hoagies and cheering loudly from the riverbank.  

The thing is that at the end that first festival we didn’t rank very high. The team was hungry for victory; however we were new and competing against some intense river warriors. But the thing that everyone left with that day was not only more experience, but a newly developed sense of family. Despite our small-company attitude, at no time our in our company history had we held an event that involved all employees and every level of family. Our group included babies in strollers, spouses, grandparents, sisters, cousins, best friends and a gaggle of engaging cheerleaders under the age of ten. There were no cubicle walls to separate anyone under tent. And while we were presidents, directors, salesmen, mailroom assistants, production line workers and managers but, there were no titles on the river that day. Nothing mattered except the connection and smiles of people working together. Stonhard repeated the event the following year against another warm October sky.  And all the people returned again, including some new ones. The Stondragons claimed first place in their third race, a victory that elicited shouts, belly banging and even the tossing in the air of bright orange #1 foam fingers. Yes, we did it – and not just secured a first place position, but we created an intimacy of spirit and team kinship that has remained with our company since."

Kendall Ellis – Stondragons

"For the third straight year, the Langan Launchers will represent Langan Engineering & Environmental Services at the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival. Langan, a leader in land development engineering and environmental consulting to developers, property owners, and corporate clients in the Greater Philadelphia region, welcomes the opportunity to take part in this event because it allows employees to practice one of the firm’s core values – Citizenship. Throughout the company’s 38-year history, Langan has taken great pride in community service by supporting organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, ACE Mentor Program and many other non-profit organizations.  The Langan Launchers race at the festival to raise awareness and support for Philabundance, the region’s largest hunger-relief organization. Philabundance has been collecting food to help fight hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley since 1984 and has provided food for over 60 million meals. After each dragon boat festival, the Launchers “rescue” unused and donated food from the day’s events for Philabundance. Over the past two years, over 4,000 pounds of food that would have otherwise been wasted has been collected for distribution to programs and families throughout the metropolitan area. The Langan Launchers let the other race teams know ahead of time that Langan will be collecting food for Philabundance. The team sets up drop-off stations along the river during the festival for other teams to leave their unused and donated food. After the day’s events, when most other teams are nursing sore muscles and packing up to head home, the Launchers walk from station to station, sort the donated food, and then load it onto the Philabundance truck. It’s the sort of extra effort that typifies Langan’s commitment to the communities in which employees live, work, and play. Clearly, such team building activities and a corporate culture that encourages citizenship are major reasons why Langan is ranked among the best engineering firms to work for."  

Jon LeBoon ~ LANGAN LAUNCHERS

"Just like the Binswanger organization itself, dragon boating is a family affair.  While several members of the Binswanger family have rowed or drummed in the boat, still more come out to cheer on the team.  And what’s even more, nearly everyone paddling in the boat does so with a family member or friend in mind that has been stricken with cancer. 

Participation in the dragon boat festival brings the company together on so many levels.  First and foremost, it serves as a pool for charitable donations to an important cause.  Also, over the course of practices and races, the paddlers learn to work as a unified team – a lesson that translates into success on the water and back at the office.  And on race day, employees and their families pack the banks of the Schuylkill River in support of our team and of Fox Chase.

An international commercial real estate firm with offices on five continents, Binswanger gets support from many of its offices.  Donations come from paddlers, their family members and fellow co-workers – most of whom donate in memory or in recognition of someone affected by the disease.  In 2008, the Philadelphia team honored the memory of an Ohio-based co-worker’s father by rowing with his picture in the boat.

The 2009 season marks Team Binswanger’s seventh straight year of participation in the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival.  All donations raised by the team, which exceeded $4,000 last year, go directly to Fox Chase Cancer Center, where Frank G. Binswanger, Jr. is Director Emeritus."

Caroline Perry ~ Team Binswanger

"Rebuilding Together Philadelphia would love the chance to share our experience with the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival. 

One of the reasons we joined the festival was to elevate our profile in the region. But the primary reason was so that we could gather our volunteers together at a fun event, to thank them for their year-round work. As you know, we were introduced to the festival through Steve Seweryn, our long-time executive director. After attending the festival the first year (his wife participates with GungHo), Steve signed us up. We recruited a team of paddlers from our pool of volunteers and supporters, and everyone on the team became a dragon boat enthusiast. In 2006, the first year we participated, it was a rotten, rainy, cold day – and we still loved it! After this first great experience, we decided to use the festival as our signature fund raising event of the year. With a small staff and volunteer board, RTP had wanted to establish an annual fund raising event, but lacked the resources to make it happen. The festival allowed us to invite all of our supporters to come celebrate with us each year. We expanded to two teams, and encouraged all of the paddlers to use this as an opportunity to introduce RTP to their friends and family. In 2007 and 2008, we raised over $10,000 from the festival alone. But the friends we've met, and connections we've made at the festival have led to even more volunteers and donations. 

As you know, Steve passed away last year just days before the festival. Our team members (including several of Steve's kids), supporters and friends pulled together and decided to go forward with the event. So the festival gained a whole new dimension for us in 2008, and turned into a tribute for Steve. Steve was the steersman for our team, but also for our organization, and we'll always think of him on Dragon Boat day!

Rebuilding Together Philadelphia (RTP) is a local, independent affiliate of a national network focused on preserving affordable homeownership using volunteer resources. RTP concentrates its work in North and West Philadelphia as well as Montgomery County. Through warm-safe-dry essential home repair, energy efficiency, and home modification projects, RTP has helped nearly 830 low-income homeowners and 30 community-based organizations since its founding in 1988. For details, visit www.rebuildingphilly.org or http://cts.vresp.com/c/?RebuildingTogetherPh/6800b08325/9228d0205a/5001dddb51.

Jennifer Wootten  ~ Rebuilding Together Philadelphia I & II

"At West we believe very strongly that as a company we have a responsibility to give back to the communities in which we live and work. The company joined the Dragon Boat Festival the year after it's inception and has been the top fundraiser for almost all of the years we have participated. Our designated charity has always been Fox Chase Cancer Center where we as a company have established a multi year goal to support the Center's mission and endow a chair in primary research in honor of our company's founders.

It is a also a connection on a more personal level – many West employees and family members have benefitted from the world class care available at Fox Chase.

We sponsored one boat our first year but due to the overwhelming response have entered two teams every year thereafter. The support of our employees has been incredible – each year we seem to set a record in terms of fundraising, participation, and attendance for the races. The participants come back year after year for the fun of being part of a team, making friends, and a truly fun experience on race day. We fill two tents to overflowing and could probably do four or five more. As several new employees who joined the team commented to our 2008 Captain Linda Fonner, "Paddling in the race brought scientists together with accountants, tax people, and engineers to build a diverse team. Strong friendships were developed after the workday during the weekly practices on the Schuykill.

The sport is not only fun, it is addictive as paddlers bring other colleagues and family members into the mix. Dragon boating brings West employees from many backgrounds and experience together in a common pursuit – winning as a team for the benefit of Fox Chase and it's patients and researchers."

I would encourage anyone thinking about joining the race to sponsor a team on behalf of your favorite charity – the rewards are substantial on many levels: as a paddler, as a team member, and as a company.

Dr. Donald E. Morel, Chairman and CEO West Pharmaceutical Services ~ West DRAGONPHLAYME & West DRAGONPHYRE 

"This Festival has been such a great experience over the past few years for our teams (Charm City, Struever Bros and now the Baltimore Dragon Boat Club).  I talk it up every opportunity that I get.  It is a terrific race in a great town.  My family makes a weekend out of it every year.  Lots of family memories … from my son doing the Rocky imitation at the Museum of Art, to the Eastern State Penn Haunted House and daytime tour, cheesesteaks, Independence Hall and so much more.

Anyway, we are really looking forward to it!

Also, some more good news hopefully for next year …. we are planning to establish a Baltimore Dragon Boat Club Breast Cancer Survivors' team in 2010 in partnership with a Baltimore company … so you never know … maybe 3 teams next year!!

John Pezzulla, Captain, Baltimore Dragon Boat Club I & II