Bennett needs to get out of volcano land to meet his newborn baby

Lisa Katayama 7:53 am Wed Apr 21, 2010

Meet Bennett Grassano. His wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl in San Francisco last Thursday, but he hasn't been able to get home to see his daughter because of the ash cloud.

I took this short video clip of Bennett at a tapas bar in London while we — along with many other folks from last week's Skoll social entrepreneurship conference — were stranded together in the UK. Some of us had started to enjoy the idea of being "volcano refugees," but Bennett (who, by the way, is the development director at Kiva) was understandably anxious to get home to his wife and daughter. As I listened to him talk about his baby girl and admire a photo of her on his iPhone, I realized that this guy deserved to get home more than any of the rest of us.

Bennett is currently in Madrid after a ferry ride from Portsmouth to St. Malo and a drive through Bordeaux and Biarritz, hoping to catch a flight back to San Francisco via Mexico City tomorrow. Things are looking upwards, so let's all wish him luck and hope that he will be holding little Opal in his arms soon.

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