Mikado Hinson talks Mission of Hope, this year's A&M trip to Haiti

Key notes from Mikado Hinson interview

• It will still be dark by the time we get on the bus on Saturday.  We have a lot of athletes jumping on board and we are really excited to get out there. We have 72 athletes going this year. The good news is that after we got back last year, all the athletes were telling other athletes.  The influence of some of those guys is great from the football locker room and for that reason more football players are coming this year.  Josh Reynolds was my MVP last year.  He never stopped smiling and never stopped serving and to was awesome seeing him serve the younger people. 

• You can read about what you experience, but whenever you get off the bus at Port Au-Prince and go to baggage claim, you see what is really going on there.  Haiti is the poorest country in the southern hemisphere, but you don’t want to have sadness.  You see people with smiles and hope all the time.  The goal is to get us out of our comfort zone.  This is has been a great partnership for us in that regard.  We are going to serve people and, although we cannot change the world in one week, we can all be changed in one week.  We are going to piggyback on what Mission of Hope is doing and we have the manpower and heart to serve.  This country can be changed and Mission of Hope has opened up a third campus that is on a barge.  They are the first to have a floating campus in that area. 

• Jay Richardson who is a staff member of Mission of Hope and an Aggie reached out to me a couple of years ago.  We figured out the process and how it would work out and last year we made our first trip last year.  Mission of Hope has a unique mission.  They are employing Haitians to help with their work. Whether it is translation, or helping at the Hope House which is for the elderly, they use people.  They are not trying to get the accolades from anyone. 

• I have been fortunate to baptize a few athletes in my time through FCA and other things.  But to see athletes be open to changing their lives and building relationships is cool.  I love building relationships with these young people.  I get a lot of athletes from a bunch of different sports that come to my office.  I have a smaller office, but it is in a perfect place and my job is to pour into athletes so they can see more in themselves.

• If you want to help the cause at all, you can go to Mission of Hope Haiti online.  If you can’t find it, you can scroll through my Twitter and you will see plenty of stuff about it.  You can follow AggieFBLife and you will see plenty of stuff as we will have a videographer going along, but we are not doing this for a photo op by any means.  We have nine different sports going in this trip.  It was hard to tell anybody no on this trip. 

• I was a broadcast major so I understand what is newsworthy.  We don’t do it for the news coverage, but this is something that deserves it.  These athletes are taking a week out of their three week summer vacation.  We do help out quite a bit with domestic organizations as well. We are not just going to be confined to only domestic issues, we should be moved to go elsewhere.  Haiti presented a really good opportunity for us. Thanks to all the Aggie supporters and we want to make you proud.  We want to shine a light across the world from this.