Heading Home!

Good Morning Everyone! Or should I say 'Bon-Jou!" in Creole.

Well we made it back to the states safely last night. We are currently sitting on an airplane in Miami. I was a bit bummed that I couldn't update my blog while in Haiti, but wifi access was very scarce! Our trip was amazing. So many new experiences and adventures. When I get back in Akron I'll make sure to give a detailed update. Just a quick update though... We all had a great week, no one got sick. We built 11 houses. It was a great feeling after we finished each one. The families usually looked at us and said "God Bless You!" I have so many stories and pictures to share. You all will here from me soon. Have a great Sunday everyone : )

Prepare for Take-Off

Good morning everyone!

After an Interesting overnight in Miami last night we are finally preparing for take off to Haiti! I am updating this from my iPhone on the plane. We are just preparing for takeoff so this will be a short post. Everything has gone smoothly thus far. We have really been pumping the water into our systems preparing for the extreme heat once we land.

Miami airport was a bit crazy, but hey that's part of the journey! Anyway Im not too sure how much I am going to be updating but stay tuned.... The group says hi to everyone and we are sending our Love to out friends and families back home!


---Benny D

1 - More - Day!

Hey Everyone!

Its so hard to believe our journey will begin tomorrow.

   Last night we packed our bags...It took us ~3 hours to pack for all the donated 'goods'! We had so many donations from different groups and families, Thank you all so much. Just to give you a mental picture we will each have 3 bags. 1 Carry on and 2 fifty pound stow-away's. Kim Conrad, our group leader, contacted American Airlines and are able to pack-away two bags with no charge. When we were packing last night we literally had a home-scale and weighed each bag. The lightest was about 42 pounds and the heaviest was 49.5 pounds. Donations ranged from: Blankets, Sewing Machine, Tools, Kids Supplies, Clothing, Medical Supplies, Books/Journals, Money, Hygiene Supplies, and much-much more! My heart also goes out to a local girl scout troup who helped us tremendously. For the past 3 months they have been raising money, collecting donations, and  making "Fleece-Tie-Blankets" I can't say it enough, but thank you to my family, friends, and colleagues for all your kind donations which helped make this trip possible : )


So anyway, 8:30am we will hop in two vehicles and drive up to Detroit to catch our 3-P.M. flight. From there we will fly to Miami and stay overnight. At 7:45-A.M. we will catch an early flight directly to Port-Au-Prince Haiti. We will be picked up and transported to Grand-Guave, Haiti. That is where we will be staying.

That's all I really have this afternoon. Need to spend some time today looking over my carry on and packing some extra snacks! (Thin-Mint Cookies) my favorite.

Have a great afternoon,
-Benny D

First 2011 Update!

The new year feels like it has come and gone, and its only February!? It's been such a crazy couple of months for me, but everything is going well. For those of you who follow my blog I am going to work on updating it more frequently now.

As of 2 weeks ago we booked our plane tickets for Haiti. The airfare prices seemed to sky rocket after the new year...Uggh what a bummer that was : ( For those who don't know we have rescheduled our trip to Mid-March. (11th-20th). That is our spring break, but I am really looking forward to contributing to those in need! I'll make sure to provide some team information as we get closer.

Another exciting area of my life (outside school, work, church, girlfriend) is the raceteam. We have been cruising right along with the new car for 2011. I am incharge of designing the Brake System and everything is coming together. We will be competing in 3 competions this summer.

1. The SAE World competition in May. 120 schools from around the country. Ohio State, Texas, MIT, Michigan are examples of some bigger schools we compete against. 
2. We will also be competing overseas in Germany!! For 1 month!!!I'm so excited for that. This competition starts August 2nd. It is the first trip there in our school's history. Feels pretty awesome to be apart of this. http://www.formulastudent.de/
3. While we are in Germany  we plan to travel over to Austria for a week. Their competition is the week following the Germany Competition. Not too sure on how many teams will be competition. I am just excited to embark on this adventure with a awesome group of Guys and Girls.

2011 has been an awesome year thus far. Some amazing things and people have impacted my life the past 12 months and I'm very excited to see what the near and distant future hold!


God Bless,


Benny D!

1-Week until Haiti

Wow, its really hard to believe in 7 days I will be leaving for Haiti to serve with Mission of Hope. The final count-down has started and I am very excited. Our group is now at 13 people(originally 8). I can't wait roll my sleeves up, dig in, and get to work! I never thought I would spend my Christmas vacation traveling and impacting the lives of so many people. Amazing how drastically your life can change in a short period of time!

My first blog

Just started this blog thing, and I'm not too sure on the setup yet...My next blog should explain everything with a bit more detail!