CEO takes a "Road Less Traveled"

Vern Cushenbery, CEO of Cush Capital Management LLC, writes about how a recent trip to Haiti was one of the more impactful trips he has ever taken.

In his words…

i Jan ou Ye is Creole (the national language of Haiti) for How are you? – one of a few phrases I picked up during my mission trip to Haiti over Labor Day. Now, please don t get the wrong idea: I m still the same stock-market-obsessed, self-centered, hyper-ambitious guy that you ve come to know and love. You see, I was having lunch with a friend. We were catching up. I asked him how his portfolio was doing, and he asked me if I wanted to go to Haiti. That caught me more than a little bit off guard! I stammered for a second, searched for an excuse, and, not able to come up with a good one, agreed – figuring it would be good for my soul.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

And what a DIFFERENCE! I am so thankful to have had this opportunity. The experience has truly left me with a renewed sense of gratitude and perspective. I went with a group called C3 Missions, a charity devoted to helping orphans through The Global Orphan Project. The trips are organized to raise awareness of 143 million orphaned and abandoned children worldwide. Extreme poverty, disease and death from AIDS, natural disasters and other causes all rank among the leading causes of child abandonment. We visited four orphanages, each with about 100 200 kids. I expected to see malnourished kids. I expected to see kids that needed medical attention. I had even prepared myself for the dirt-poor destitute poverty that is everywhere. What surprised me was how these kids are soaffection-starved. As soon as I got out of our van I was swarmed by kids. Kids who wanted nothing more than to hold my hand or give me a hug. Imagine living in an orphanage with 200 other kids and only a handful of adult nannies – how often do you think you d get a hug? It s heart-breaking!

Read more about Vern’s experience here >>