Venturing into an intimidating, sometimes hostile environment and working in often- primitive conditions, this Sanibel couple nonetheless puts their time and talents each year to improving life in the mountains of Haiti. Here’s how and why they do it.
The inspiration for Dan Budd’s annual expedition to Haiti began some eight years ago, all thanks to an iPhone. It was Christmas, and his two sons were complaining about the fact that every other kid in the world had or was getting an iPhone — except them. “So I thought, well, it’s time to take these kids on a mission trip,” he recalls. “With the help of the Sanibel Community Church, we got 15 kids together and off we went. When we arrived in Haiti, the kids saw the living conditions, there was a lot of crying, everybody got sick and it was a rough trip — but that at least stopped the new iPhone talk.”
DanBudd is proprietor ofWildseedConstruction, a residential and commercial construction company located in Sanibel specializing in new, remodel, repair and renovation projects. This past October marked the eighth journey he’s made to St. Marc, a small village in the mountains of Haiti. It was also the second trip he’s made with only spouse Bridgit Stone-Budd at his side, who in her other life owns Sanibel’s The Pecking Order restaurant. “My brother is a missionary in China, so I guess this is my calling, my purpose, my way of being a missionary — at least for a week,” he explains. “You take the skills you’ve been given and give back as best you can.”
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