Hispanic American Center of Hanover

In 1998, Maria Perez and her husband, Rev. Cesar Perez, volunteered as translators for the Hanover Police Department. From that day on and out of her home, Maria was providing services to the Hispanic population with translations, interpretations, assisting in completing different sources of applications and forms. The small group of Hispanics that Maria provided services to has grown throughout the years making her home a small place to provide services.  In 2003, Maria along with her sister, Mirna Wildasin, began their first planning process of opening a Hispanic Center. But it wasn’t until 2006, that Mirna and Maria began doing home visits to reach the Hispanic community with a survey that later on indicated a high need of social services for the Latinos.

On November 18th  of 2006, The Hispanic American Center of Hanover, opened their doors to provide services to the Hispanic community of Hanover and the surrounding areas.  Services started with a high need of English as a Second Language classes during Saturdays from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm at a small local church, Trinity Church of Nazarene, in the Hanover area.  The center was such a huge impact on the Latino (Hispanic) population that grew from a starting enrollment point of 172 members; Adults, Adolescents, and children  to over 450 members. Due to the rapid growth, the center felt compelled to move to a much greater facility.  Lohr’s United Methodist Church of Hanover opened their doors in 2007 for the Center to utilize the lower level of their building. Now, services has grown from just providing ESL classes to citizenship classes, educational workshops, childcare, computer lessons and cultural events in town.