Kevin: 0:33

All right friends, welcome back to the Uncommon Freedom Show. Today we are recording another Uncommon man episode and when you hear my friend Del's story, you're going to understand why he is one of the uncommon men in my life, del, welcome to the show, brother.

Del: 0:50

It's a blessing to be here. Thank you for having me. I can't wait to just have some fun and and share our stories and and help change so many lives out there. So thank you for having me and thank you to you and beck for setting this up and changing so many lives all across the globe. So thank you again absolutely, man.

Kevin: 1:08

It's been uh awesome getting to know you. So we met uh at poker. We've known each other for what is it even been?

Del: 1:15

I don't even know if it's been two years it's been a little under two years, but it's been fun. And again, thank you for putting all these tournaments, all these events together and, uh, you have no idea how many lives you are changing and I've a lot of these guys. I know him personally and that's like the highlight of the week of the month to just be here and be present and see such a strong personnel helping change so many lives all over. So thank you for putting all these events in the poker tournament together.

Kevin: 1:46

Now you bet. I mean poker night is the highlight of my, my life, every single month.

Del: 1:51

I look forward to. Yeah it's. It's really a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and a lot of good guys.

Kevin: 1:52

I look forward to it. Yeah, it's really a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and a lot of good guys. So real quick, before we kind of get into your story, Del, tell us just a little bit about your family. I know you're married, You've got one child, one on the way, and what you do from work. So fill us in.

Del: 2:07

Absolutely. I currently sell for Brightview Landscape. I just left United Winters about a year ago and it's been fun. I enjoy what I do and I love doing it for my family. I met my amazing wife back in college at Great Canyon University by the way, lopes Up, that's one of the best colleges here in Arizona. I love the place. It's a Christian environment and if you make the right decisions when you go through college, absolutely you will be successful. And I met my wife freshman year and I never looked back. She's gorgeous and we welcomed our first daughter in the world about a year, 15 months ago, and our son is coming in in three weeks. So we can't wait to have him.

Del: 2:48

Thank you, thank you. And last night, like I was telling you, I was building crib until 10 pm at night and watching some football. So I'm excited to have him here, I'm excited to pour into him and see him grow and becoming one of the leaders in this world that we need, hopefully similar to Charlie Kirk.

Kevin: 3:08

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So let's go back kind of into you. Know your origin story Absolutely. You're originally from Haiti.

Del: 3:15

Absolutely.

Kevin: 3:16

So tell us, you know you were born there, what life was like growing up and you know kind of tell us how you ended up in the United States.

Del: 3:23

Absolutely. It was never easy. Haiti is a very challenging place, but if you look past the poverty and all the bad that is ongoing in Haiti, it's beautiful. It's very similar to Hawaii and I've been to Hawaii a couple of times with my adopted family, which I'm sure we'll get into in a little bit. It's such a beautiful place, but the government we don't have good infrastructure in Haiti. The government doesn't seem to care much. It's technically 10 families running the country and they do not want to see the country succeed because the country's success doesn't help them in their family growth right, so really they want to see Haiti in poverty for forever.

Del: 4:10

I would say but yeah, I came from Haiti. It's a beautiful place. I would advise everyone. It's a very humbling place to visit. I would advise everyone, if you have a chance, when it's safe, to take your family down there and visit it for yourself. It's hard for me to put it into words what it looks like because of the level of poverty, but it's such a beautiful place and I do advise everyone to have a chance to take your family down there and and let them see it for themselves and it will change your life forever.

Kevin: 4:44

And Haiti is actually in the same landmass or Island. Is the Dominican Republic? Absolutely.

Del: 4:49

Absolutely. It's literally the border of the Dominican Republic. It's crazy how the Dominican Republic is way advanced than Haiti, but at the same time, it's like they were both Haiti back in 1804. I'm getting into numbers, sorry about that. I don't remember the exact date, but 1804, that's when they divided and the Hispanic side went to the Dominican Republic and the French side stayed in the Haiti side and they decided to not. It's very similar to America, in a sense, and Mexico. They border, but they don't get along for some reason. So it's a beautiful place to visit, it's a beautiful place to see, but it's a very tough place to live. It's hard to live in Haiti.

Kevin: 5:43

Okay, so growing up did you grow up with a mom and a dad? What was your family life like?

Del: 5:48

Yes, yes, I, my mom was always around and my dad was in and out of the picture.

Del: 5:53

Simply, he was.

Del: 5:58

He was trying to do his best to provide for my family and at times, he would leave to go to the Dominican Republic to try and find jobs, and when he went, when he would go there, they wouldn't treat him the best.

Del: 6:04

Uh, simply because, um, you know, he's Haitians, they don't get along with Haitians and, um, it just never worked out that way and he will come back with less than what he had when he left Haiti and it just never worked out that way. But he, he always tried to put in the work and try to figure out a way to help our family. He always I would say he always fell short, because we grew up in a lot of poverty, and that's why I met a strong man in my life, jay Philly. He came down to Haiti and gave me an opportunity to move over to the United States and pursue my dream, and my life has changed forever because of him and his family that has welcomed me as a son, yeah, so let's talk about, first of all, just growing up in Haiti running water, electricity, things that we take for granted in the United States?

Del: 7:02

Yes, just the little things, what did?

Del: 7:03

you have Nothing what did you grow up with? We barely had anything right, and water was a struggle. We had to go about two miles carrying a bucket in our head trying to get water from into our house. Electricity we'll be lucky if we have, uh, electricity probably on a saturday to watch some soccer, which is the main sport in haiti. I mean, we, we didn't have much man. It was not an easy place to grow up in, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I'm glad that I grew up in haiti. I'm glad that it gave me the perspective that I have in life and I'm very fortunate to have the Haitian background.

Kevin: 7:42

Now, how about school? Like I know that in America kids they tend to hate going to school. Like we take it for granted, just like we take running water and electricity for granted, absolutely but. I know in the rest of the world, especially places like Africa and such, going to school is a privilege. It's something that kids want to be able to do, even though they won't be able to Talk about what school was like for you American kids.

Del: 8:06

They do have it easy and they don't even know it. I have spoken to a couple of high schools here in the States and just the fact that your parents can drive you to school, it's a blessing. Just the fact that you have AC inside of your school, that's a blessing. Just the fact that you have great educators at your school, that's a blessing. And I would walk six miles to go to school every day one way. Wow, with zero meals in the morning and no hope to have a meals when I get back home.

Del: 8:40

The school that I went to was very fortunate. It was a nonprofit. They will have Americans come down and bring meals for a lot of the students, so I'll have a meal for lunch and that will probably be the only meal I have for the rest of the day. If I'm lucky and you know, if I'm unlucky they don't have food that day and you know I go the whole day with no food. And you guys, for the young high schoolers out there, do not take your parents' food, the stuff that they're providing for you, for granted, and I cannot wait to teach my son and my daughter not to take anything for granted, because some people have it very rough and you guys are so blessed.

Kevin: 9:26

Yeah, yeah, I've been able to travel to quite a few different places and done some mission work in some third world countries. Absolutely, it is amazing. We just we're we're spoiled and we take so much for granted here in the United States.

Del: 9:42

It's hard not to, would you Right? It's what we're used to, right, right yeah.

Kevin: 9:46

But I think the statistic is like if you make something like 30 or $50,000, you're in the top, I think, 1% or 2% of wage earners in the entire, uh, which is so. It's always funny when you have, you know people, you know um, uh, you know rallying against the 1%. It's like if you're in America, you're the 1%. Yes, you are, you have even if you're not in the top 1% of America, you're still in the top 1% of the world.

Del: 10:11

The poorest family here in the United States of America can sponsor any family in Haiti and help them have a better life. Wow, and most people don't get that. They're like, oh I'm poor. No, you're not. If you want to see what poor looks like, Go somewhere else.

Del: 10:23

Invest, you know, a flight anywhere in, let's say, haiti or Haiti is what I know of Right. So just go down to Haiti and see families that are eating dirt to survive and see people that are living in lulu tents ever since the earthquake. Before the earthquake, it was not the best, and after the earthquake it just got crazy. So if you have a chance to visit a third world country, I would highly suggest you do, because it will change your life. When I say it will change your life, it sure will.

Kevin: 10:53

Yeah, all right, let's talk about the earthquake, because I think that's actually what led your adoptive father, jay Feeley. So talk about what that experience was like and how you guys connected.

Del: 11:03

It was actually the best. I met his brother, john. He came down and led a soccer camp in the high school that I went to and he thought I was talented enough to come down to come to the United States and play for his high school. He was back then a coach at high school. Actually, I just heard yesterday he went 70 miles. He was trying to do 100 miles one and I thought that was oh wow, but he's a strong man, man.

Del: 11:28

I have high respect for John Feeley. Anyways, he's the one that came down first after the earthquake and wanted to support Haiti and he saw potential of me being a soccer player and he was trying to help me to come to America, but I was already graduating from high school and it wasn't going to work out. He called Jay and told Jay about me. Jay Feeley, he's a rock star and I admire him. I admire everything he's done for me. I admire everything he's done for me. I admire everything he's done for my family I'm so fortunate to call him family. From the bottom of my heart, I thank him for everything he's done for me.

Del: 12:07

Anyways, he came down, I believe the next year, and he came up with some of his NFL buddies. Back then he was playing for the Cardinals, arizona Cardinals, and he just wanted to get to know me and learn about the nonprofit that I was working for and learn a little bit more. I'm just a random Haitian kid. He doesn't know me. He's not going to bring me into his family if he doesn't know anything about me besides what Jonas told him. So, anyway, he came down and we kind of hang out, we banded. He was telling me all about American football in Haiti. You don't know anything about American football because you don't have the privilege. You have tv at your house, right, you know electricity, whatnot. Um, and he, I remember him bringing a football down and we would have talked about. He said do you play football? I said, yes, football is a common sport in Haiti. I'm thinking he's saying the world football, which is football, soccer, soccer yeah.

Del: 13:05

And we kind of joked about that for a while and I took him to a soccer field and we played some soccer with the Haitian kids and he and I I were just going off. If there's a free kick, he wants to take it because you know he's competitive, right. I'm like, hey, this is my homeland, I'm not gonna let you come here and school me and score the cool goals, whatnot and he actually took one of the free kick and whipped the net.

Del: 13:32

He hit it so hard and until these days we always joke about it. Um, but anyways, I I still think I should have taken the free kick, uh, for he didn't kick anyone right in the face, no he did not.

Del: 13:44

That would have been bad. It would have been a tragedy, tragedy, sorry, especially considering the haitian kids with, um, not enough meals in their stomach and enough water. But it was fun just having him down there, being such a strong person to have a lot of Haitian kids look up to, and he did such great work down in Haiti supporting so many families and he loved people well, and I think that that's one of the reasons he's going to be a great candidate to be the congressman here in the state of Arizona. His heart is pure and I admire that.

Kevin: 14:23

Yeah, so you guys met on his trip and then how did you end up basically a part of his family and here in the United States?

Del: 14:32

Yeah, it's kind of a unique story. He, I told him what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to be a potentially professional soccer player and come to the United States and see if I can get into college and um and uh, and give it my best when I'm here. And he said you know what? I do know the head coach at Grand Canyon, I can set that up for you. Um, and when he came back to the States, he did not. You know, he did not stop. He called the Greg Kenyon head coach and told him hey, I met this amazing young man in Haiti and I really want to give him an opportunity and we can figure out a way to help him. And the head coach wanted to bring me over and I did, ended up coming over two years later, after a lot of back and forth with Two years later, two years later, after a lot of back and forth with the embassy in Haiti.

Del: 15:22

It's not an easy process and, by the way, I was even trying to get my family here not too long ago with the Biden administration, the program that they had legally doing it the right way. That's the way to do it. You don't break the law of someone's country when you're trying to get into their country, and I personally think, as an immigrant it's one. But anyways, we work it out with the embassy. And I got to the United States, played the first game at Grand Canyon. It was very overwhelming experience. I scored two goals in that game and the coach he saw potential in me as well and he wanted to put me on scholarship and I ended up staying here and the Phillies welcomed me. They never officially adopted me, but they welcomed me as one of their sons and it's been a privilege to not only know who they are, but being a part of the family. It's a blessing. I don't take it for granted.

Kevin: 16:57

Yeah, I know, you know talking. I've known Jay longer than I've known you and I mean he always talks about you as his son and I think you were the one who told me, yeah, I was never really officially adopted and I think you know it doesn't really matter from a legal standpoint, and I just remember him talking about you know, basically telling you like, hey, I'm going to give you a chance, and I think you know Dell, one of the advantages that you have is you just have this I don't know larger than life personality. You have a big smile. You've never met a stranger. I mean, you walk into my backyard and you just bring life with you.

Kevin: 17:33

Um, you know, it's like the party doesn't start till Dell shows up. So I, I mean, I think that your personality is a huge advantage, um, but you still had. You know, you had an opportunity, and so many people every American has the same opportunity that you have. Um, you know whether it's. You know, maybe they don't want to play soccer or go to college or something like that, but we're just born with opportunity and so few people really do squeeze all the juice out of the opportunity that they have, and you're someone who chose to so talk about some of the conversations, maybe, that you had with Jay. As far as, like, listen, we're going to bring you over, but this is kind of what's at stake.

Del: 18:10

Yes, and he made it clear from the very get go Right. He said, del, you have it, you have it, you have it hard, right, living in Haiti. It's a very challenging background, but I'm going to give you an opportunity and you ought to make the best of it, and if you screw it up, that's on you. And and I, I did understand what he was telling me because I knew, um, I could not afford to not make the best of it. That's why I had to make sure that every day, when I'm in school, that I'm putting in the work, I'm putting in the hours. I mean, english is not my first language, right? So I had to go to a lot of um whole hours to make sure that I'm getting tutors and make sure that I'm getting good grades. And, um, you know, I graduated with a 3.3 GPA.

Del: 18:58

It was never easy. I mean, I would wake up at six in the morning and at times I'll go to bed at midnight. I would work, I would um go to training, I will go to classes. I would not miss one hour one day not going to classes because, you know, I felt like sleeping in whole hours. I couldn't miss that and I had the options not to go, but that was never an option for me.

Del: 19:23

Yeah, because if I screw this up, my only shot is going back to Haiti, and I didn't want to be back in Haiti, right? So I had to make the best of my decision and he told me Del, I'm going to give you this opportunity, make the best of it. And he would check on me every week to make sure that I'm doing all the things that I promised him that I would do when I'm in school. And I don't think I disappointed him, having a 2.3 GPA and later on, getting my master's degree. On getting my master's degree, and I think he I hope he's part of the work that I've put in and not taking for granted the opportunity that he gave me.

Kevin: 20:01

I guarantee you he's proud of you because I've talked to him and I know he. I know he's as proud of you as he is his other children. So how old were you when you came to the States and what year was that?

Del: 20:14

It was back in 2014. I was 21 years old and, by the way, growing up in Haiti. Because my dad was not fully in the in the picture, I had to be the dad for the rest of my family. You know, I grew up in a family of seven. I was the second oldest but the first son into the family, so I had to make sure that the stuff that my dad wasn't doing as far as providing for my family. I had to get a job at 16 years old and help provide for my family and, until this day, that's part of my responsibility. It's not my responsibility, but I live in the United States of America. I have opportunities. Um, god has blessed me with so much and, um, I would, uh, it would be a shame to not support them when I know the situation and I know how hard they have it.

Kevin: 21:07

Now it's not mandatory for me to do it, but it's my desire, it's my heart to continue on supporting him and, yeah, when you're growing up in Haiti and you have a dad that isn't able to provide for the family the way that you know we all think a dad should. Did someone tell you that you had to step into that role? Is it culturally expected or are you just an anomaly?

Del: 21:33

Well it's. It's somewhat culturally accepted. Simply because I'm one of the kids, right, if there's no meals inside of the house and I'm the oldest one, we have to figure out a way to, you know, bring food, because we're not going to go like four or five days with no food. We've gone three days with zero meals in the past, but that's no way to live, right?

Del: 21:55

So I had to figure out and the nonprofit that I went to school at, they had, they had jobs where you can learn English as a second language and translate for Americans that are coming down and, uh, part of my, what I was thinking back then is okay, well, they have these Americans coming in and they're very wealthy. I can figure out a way to learn this language and, uh, help support my family. And it worked. I would wake up at 6 AM, go to the mountain mountain and pray and I'll bring my English book and teach myself. That's how I, you know, learn English myself. And when the Americans would come in my village, I'll just go and speak to them and get to know them.

Del: 22:37

And that's how I met John Feeley and that's how he told me about Jay and that's how the whole thing worked out. That's how the whole thing worked out, so that nonprofit ended up hiring me after I graduated high school, and that's how I was able to make enough to provide for my family. And God has blessed me ever since. And now here I am and I do want to continue on supporting not only my family but so many families that are in need back in.

Del: 23:03

Haiti. So when I hit here at the events, it's for a good cause. I do help support a lot of folks back in Haiti, so awesome, awesome.

Kevin: 23:17

One of the things that you're talking about is called the proximity principle, where you become like the people that you're close to and also, if you want to go somewhere in life, find out how you can get yourself in proximity to the people who are doing what you want Absolutely, and it will lead you down that path. And that's one of the things I love about our poker group and I was. I was even, just, you know, reflecting with Becca after Friday night. I was telling her I was like we had a ton of fun. I was like like there was five new guys there and I've got phone numbers for all these guys. I really enjoyed all the new guys and I was just telling her. I was like I and then, you know, we were in the suite with uh, with jay, on sunday and just talking about some of them.

Del: 23:57

it was incredible thank you guys for the support.

Kevin: 23:59

Charlie kirk in his family, of course, but just like the, the people that were able to be around, like they're all in my opinion, they're all like light years ahead of me and they make me better. They're high performers, and that's the power of the proximity principle, and what I love is here. You are growing up in a third world country and you understood I'm going to figure out how to get around the people that are doing what I want to do.

Del: 24:29

And I think that's amazing. Yeah, victim mentality is not going to help you to get anywhere in life right, regardless of how hard you had it to start with. There's plenty of opportunities, especially in the United States of America, of opportunity, especially in the United States of America. If you can't figure it out, I'm sure that you have a friend that can help you, guide you or advise you. Here's the path that you should take, right, and I never let that mindset stop me from what I want to do in life, and that's one of the pros in these countries, there's a lot of um victim mentality people who really think they had it have it hard.

Del: 25:10

And I'm. I'm sitting here thinking, wow, I wish I had what you had going on. That's right and I'm trying to make the best of what I had with having nothing. Yeah. And you have it all and you still think um shoot, yeah, and you have it all and you still think um shoot I, I, if you think it is a border just go get it.

Del: 25:32

You live in America, right? So, um, that just my two cents. As far as victim mentality, I don't think, um, you should never let that stop you from, you know, reaching your potential per se. Uh, because living in the U? S is, uh, it's, a blessing itself, and what I hope for, what I really do hope for, is for the United States of America to not become like a country like Haiti. That's why I left Haiti, because it wasn't safe, we did not have opportunity and, to a point, I feel like people are trying to go down that path that I went away from, and I don't have another country to go down that path that I went away from, and I don't have another country to go back to. So don't destroy the beautiful country that you do have.

Kevin: 26:14

You're a patriot, I mean you love this country and you want what's best for it and you understand what really. You know that America is exceptional Absolutely and you want to keep it that way. I love it Talk about your faith. When did that develop and how has that shaped your life?

Del: 26:30

Well, I was very fortunate to grow up in a Christian family my, my mom she was the strong Christian person in my family. Well, I grew up in church right and my, my, my best friends that I grew up in in Haiti. I grew up in church right and my best friends that I grew up with in Haiti. They all headed up here in the United States of America and we were a strong group of friends.

Del: 26:54

That, would you know, minister to so many young kids in the villages and how we did that is when I would wake up and go to the mountains and pray and pray for Haiti, pray for my family, pray for a better future for not only myself but the rest of the country. Later on, we'll just do ministry. We'll go clean people's shoes, because people care about having their shoes very clean when they go to church. On Sundays, we'll go and clean the shoes and help provide meals. So when the nonprofit receive tons of meals, so at times they will bring it to us and we'll deliver it to people in the village. So that kind of built my faith, knowing that God always provides right, and I had to lean on him for everything, and I'm glad I did and I'm glad that my mom had such a strong faith and, uh, she passed it on to not only myself but, um my other siblings as well.

Kevin: 27:52

So, um, what was the hardest adjustment when you moved to the United States?

Del: 27:59

Oh, that's a. That's a big one. It's probably was being overwhelmed with all the stuff that Americans do have. You know, just getting on an airplane leaving Haiti was overwhelming itself, because I've never left my country, I've never left my village to even go to like a far village where I had to be on an airplane because we did not have the means. So that was very challenging.

Del: 28:24

I was overwhelmed with the freeway. I was overwhelmed with the means. So that was very challenging. I was overwhelmed with the freeway. I was overwhelmed with the food. I was overwhelmed with all the wealth that exists here in America. I didn't even think that was possible. I thought it was just movies, right. And not only I moved to the United States of America, I did move in with a 1% family, a very successful, strong family. They're strong in the faith, in in the views and, uh, I remember even going to Jay's uh closet and seeing all the stuff that he had in there. Yeah, just looking at it I'm like that's stuff is worth a whole village in Haiti, just what he had in his closet.

Kevin: 29:06

And.

Del: 29:06

I'm not even exaggerating, it was just overwhelming. It was just such a humbling experience and I don't take it for granted, just living here in the States. It's amazing.

Kevin: 29:20

When I was a teenager I met a guy who was a, I think a Vietnamese refugee who came somehow came to the States after the Vietnam, the war in Vietnam, and he shared how he'd never seen a toilet before and I don't remember if it was on an airplane or a train or at some point he saw a toilet and he literally thought it was for drinking out of. And it was. It was. You know, as an American, you're like that's crazy.

Kevin: 29:50

But put yourself in the third world country, where that doesn't exist, and you're like wow.

Del: 29:55

The most overwhelming part was probably drinking water for me. Having just running water inside of your house and having a shower that just put water over your head, that's stuff and having a shower that just put water over your head, that stuff that I was never used to.

Del: 30:07

But living here now and I'm thinking back in the days, I'm like how did I even survive in Haiti, yeah, and how are the Haitians surviving there? And that's what makes me want to always continue supporting Haiti and my family, because I know they have it hard right. What is?

Kevin: 30:25

the greatest physical or infrastructure need that Haitians have.

Del: 30:32

Well, it's probably starting with the freeways. Right, the freeways are all messed up. That's something that we need in Haiti. Well, they have to start with the school system, right? The school system is all broken. We don't have good education. It's really. The professors in Haiti are not even you know. They haven't even graduated high school and they're teaching, sometimes college. Wow.

Del: 30:59

So it's all the system. The need is overwhelming, like I don't even know where to start. Gotcha Water electricity yeah, it's a lot. The need is overwhelming, like I don't even know where to start Water electricity. Yeah, it's a lot.

Del: 31:10

I don't even know how to explain it to your viewers. Haiti is a very, very tough place to live. I mean, you're going to have to change almost everything to get the country to where it needs to be at the end of the day, but it's a beautiful country If you look at it for what it is all the mountains, all the ocean and you know God's beauty. But we've destroyed it and we haven't made the best, we've made the poorest decisions as far as helping the country to be what it is. And if we have the white person into politics who actually cares about the country, I can see Haiti becoming a Hawaii. Right, because Hawaii is beautiful and the way they make the roads, the side of the roads and the infrastructure there is amazing. So I can see Haiti being a Hawaii, honestly.

Kevin: 32:03

Awesome. All right, let's pivot more to you. What are some of your goals and aspirations?

Del: 32:09

I've been very fortunate with who I know, and knowing people like you, you know, it really is an inspiration. And knowing a strong father role in my life, jay Philly, is an inspiration. Some of the things that I really want to do is be a strong dad that's the number one thing and being a strong Christian man who leads my family well, who loves my wife well. Just hearing Harry Kirk speaking at the event recently, it's just inspiring how great of a man Charlie was yeah and I'm inspired to be a person just like him.

Del: 32:45

Some of my aspiration and goals I hope to be a success to so many. As far as financially I'm not stressing about finance, I am focusing on doing God's will and I know he will provide. I will put in the work. I hope to be the top sales rep for my organizations and put in the work and sell as much as I can and help grow the organization as I'm growing my family and as I'm growing financially. I do want to give back at some point a lot more to my country I don't know what that's like yet at some point, a lot more to my country I don't know what that's like yet. Some people have suggested that I get into politics, but I don't know if that's my calling. But some of my goals and aspirations is to be a strong dad, a good Christian man and be a servant leader.

Kevin: 33:42

Awesome.

Del: 33:42

I love that those are some of the things that I want to accomplish.

Kevin: 33:45

What motivates you?

Del: 33:49

I think my background is a strong motivations for me, just that itself, where I came from, I do not want to be the dad that's not present in my kid's life and I do not want to be the dad who's not providing for my kids, and I do not want to be the husband who's not present in my kid's life and I do not want to be the dad who's not providing for my kids and I do not want to be the husband who's not present in my wife's life. I do not want to be the husband who's not providing for my wife. So my family motivates me.

Kevin: 34:16

I love it. I love it. What advice do you have for a maybe teenage or college or 20 something American, uh, who is struggling? Uh, you know, maybe he has a victim mindset or they're just honestly wasting their life, you know, with uh video games and just not not being yeah, yeah.

Del: 34:39

Um, it's a choice. Uh, you get to make a choice and your choice is going to define your future. The one advice I have for you choose what's right, you know. Choose to be one of the right people if you are in college or high school. Choose what's going to help you in your future, because when you're in college, you're not thinking about you know having a house. You're not thinking about having a job, you're not thinking about it, you're just thinking about, oh, I just need to go and party and have fun with my friends. That's going to take you so far in life.

Del: 35:17

All the drinking, all the craziness that people do in college. If you surround yourself with the right people, just like you said when we started, tell me who your friends are and I'll, you know, I'll tell you who you are. If you surround yourself with the right people, with the Bible, make the right choices, study and it would all pay off at the end of the day. And your friends that were messing around playing video games, they will probably reach out to you and asking you for a job later on in life because they make poor choices and poor decisions and that's the result of it, right? So always surround yourself with the right person and make the right choices.

Kevin: 35:59

Love it, love it. All right, let's talk about poker. We met through poker and you are a really good poker player, so how did you get into poker? I like to think so.

Del: 36:09

It actually started back in Haiti, but it's somewhat a different game here in the States. The cards we read the cards differently. But I've played a lot of poker with the Philly family. When we go to their house in Michigan and even at the house we'll host family poker nights and I kind of got hooked about three, four years ago and I've joined a couple of poker groups and I started playing and started learning. I started reading books, I started watching videos and I've gotten a lot better over the years and I'm actually on the hot streak right now Eight first place, the last 11 tournaments and nine caches. So it's been a very good thing that happened for me ever since I stopped playing college sports, Because I'm a very competitive person and I find myself dialing and competing when I'm at a poker table.

Del: 37:07

I feel like the poker table is my happy place at times, besides my family, right? I don't want my wife to think, oh, I thought I was your happy place. I do enjoy playing poker and it's been fun. It's been a fun environment and I do. I am very good for the best poker places that I've found. As far as the houses that I've gone to, is your place, Just the way you set it up. You set it up for young kids to be here, and providing an environment where they're learning about God is the number one thing and I do admire that about you always sharing your faith. And second, it's such a good environment. It's such a good place to be and seeing a strong, successful person, humble and yet love God. So thank you for always hosting once a month, and it's literally that's why I've been bringing a lot of people to this year. It's probably the best poker place that I've found in the state of Arizona.

Kevin: 38:06

That's a huge honor.

Del: 38:07

Absolutely. Thank you for always hosting.

Kevin: 38:09

Absolutely, and I know you'd love to make the world's news of poker right.

Del: 38:12

That's the goal and I have been, uh, talking to my wife about it. Um, you know we have two under two in three weeks. Uh, so that's itself is a huge challenge and my goal is to next year is to play my first WSOP and get out there and compete. And I do play a lot of poker and I know I have the game, I know I have the skill set to dominate at the poker table if the cards are cooperating. Yeah.

Del: 38:40

I actually played in a tournament back in March here in the Valley and it turned out really well. I was 30 away from the money, but I knocked out five professionals at my table. Wow, people that are actually playing it for a living. Yeah story for me as far as poker goes, but I it's. It's something that I enjoy doing and I think uh moving forward. I will start competing more at a higher level and um yeah, awesome.

Kevin: 39:12

Well, I certainly, I'm cheering you on, absolutely, uh, you're, you're, definitely you're at the top of the list as far as the the poker players I've played with and uh, you make it uh always an adventure, so you.

Del: 39:24

hey, it's always fun competing against you. I you're a good poker player. You make it always an adventure. Hey, it's always fun competing against you. You're a good poker player. You make the right reads. At times the cause doesn't fall your way, but I do enjoy playing at the same poker table as you, and your personality too. It just makes it even more fun. And you like to compete, and I love competing when I see a competitor. You know a competitor when you see a competitor.

Kevin: 39:46

Yeah, no, it's a great game. And I just, you know, I grew up in the Midwest in Ohio and in kind of the Bible Belt part and like you, didn't play poker, like it was just interesting. And then you know, now I mean I'm playing poker with a bunch of, you know, pastors and church friends and stuff like that, and it's a good group.

Kevin: 40:08

The reality is, you know you're going to drop. You go to a, you go to an NFL game or an NBA game, You're going to drop several hundred dollars and you know, most nights we're playing poker for less than that in our house and you have just a ton of fun. But you know, for me, I'd love to hear what you like about poker. For me, it's the fact that there's this element of skill.

Del: 40:28

Yes.

Kevin: 40:28

There's this element of luck, there's the psychological aspect of bluffing and also trying to read your opponent. What do you like? What draws you to poker?

Del: 40:39

Uh, it's, a lot of people do think I'm very lucky, um, and I think poker is a game of luck and you have to be lucky at times to hit certain hands right. Right. Especially when you're drawing to the last card the river. Yeah.

Del: 40:55

That's the terminology for poker, if you guys didn't know. You have to be lucky to hit it Right, but the weeds you have to be able to make the right weeds. You have to be able to have pigtails on your opponents when you're looking at them across the table, whether or not they're bluffing you, whether or not they're trying to pull a quick one. But it really is the competitive side of me that comes out when I'm at the poker table and I do not play soccer like I used to anymore, and so poker is the competitive side that helps me to be at the poker table. I don't know if I'm saying that right now, sorry.

Del: 41:34

Being at the poker table helped me keep my competitive edge, if that's fair to say. But it's a fun game. I enjoy playing it. I would play every day if my wife would let me, but I don't think that's out of the question. She's very supportive to my, to me playing poker and most wives would not appreciate the husbands being at a poker table every week. But she's, she's, she's amazing. And at times I'm like, okay, I'm not playing poker this week, I just want to spend time with my family and stay away from poker.

Del: 42:07

But when you're on a hot streak and you went in, that's definitely the time you want to be at the poker table and she's been very supportive. We have a rule at the house if I, if I run bad and if I miss three, not cashing then, I'm not allowed to play, and that hasn't happened yet, so okay, let's hope it never happens very good I don't get to play for the rest of the month, so, yeah, awesome, it's been fun man all right, let's talk about causes that you want to support.

Kevin: 42:32

Any social media for people to follow you.

Del: 42:35

Absolutely my dad, jay Feeley, my adopted dad. Unofficially, he's running for congressman in the state of Arizona. If there is one person that will be a good candidate for the world, and I would even say he will be a good candidate to be the United States president. That's how I look up to the guy. So if there's any good person that I can see being the congressman in the state, it will probably be Jay Philly. So if you would consider supporting him, he's got his website set up. The race is next year during the summertime. It's wwwjfeelyforcongresscom. I think I got it right.

Kevin: 43:19

If you Google search it, you'll find it. But, yeah, I think it's jfeelyforcongresscom.

Del: 43:23

Yes, and that's one of the cars that I would highly suggest that, if some of you would like to support a job on board and there's a lot of nonprofits in Haiti you can contact Kevin or you can contact me. We can get you in touch with some of them that desperately. They are doing good work. Mission of Hope is one of the high school that I went to. They're always looking for folks to sponsor kids to get through high school and I think that's something really cool. And the Phillies, they are a part of that. My family who supported me brought me over to the United States. They do support a lot of Haitian families to help them get through high school.

Del: 44:03

And, yeah, I have my social media, haitian Sensation QQ, which is back at Queens. It's my favorite hand and there's a whole story. I do poker, uh. That's why I'm trying to start, uh, uh, some type of video live sessions for my poker career, so I can start posting content online and help a lot of young kids who wants to learn, which a couple of them. They know that I do play a lot of young kids who wants to learn, which a couple of them. They know that I do play a lot and they look up to me and they want to learn more. So I'm going to start posting contents in the future. It will be about God, poker, family and just about real life.

Kevin: 44:43

Love it, love it. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking it would be really fun to do a mission trip, to have you lead us on a trip to Haiti with the guys from the poker crew and I don't know what we do when we go build something or just feed people or what it is but I think that would be an awesome trip to cook up for down the road.

Del: 45:04

I agree. I'm glad you brought that up. They do have a lot of programs when you go down, as far as building houses, help family, help feed families, doing a lot of VBS with the Haitian kids and playing sports. If you are into sports, there's. They do have a lot of activities, but right now is not the best time to go down.

Del: 45:25

Yeah, Very dangerous extremely unsafe, which I hope that changes soon. But, yeah, that will be something fun to do and I led a couple of trips down to Haiti with my church. I no longer go to that church anymore, but I knew the youth pastor and the head pastor will go down and lead trips to Haiti and it will change so many lives when we'll be on those mission trips just. And it will change so many lives when we, when we'll be on those mission trips, just seeing and it's both sides, it's not just the American lives that are being changed, the Haitians life as well, because they're Americans. They bring the resources, they bring the, they bring all the stuff that the Haitian kids would need. And the Haitian kids they bring the joy, they bring the energy, the passion. You, at the end of those trips, it's always man, I want to go back. Yeah.

Del: 46:13

Right, by the way, I want to go back and we'll start planning the next missing trips for the next four months. But yeah, it's, haiti is a beautiful place to visit and I hope that I do get to take the poker guys and hopefully, your family come too. It will change your life and you can ask Jay about it. It had a tremendous impact on the Phyllis family and, yeah, it's a great place to visit.

Kevin: 46:39

Well, del, it's been great hanging out with you. Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed learning more about it. Absolutely. I appreciate you, I respect you and, like I said, you're a bright light and I think that comes from the hope of Christ, and just keep letting it shine and just prayers and blessings for you as you have welcomed your son into the world. I mean, I'm a little bit ahead of you in life.

Del: 47:06

And what the world needs is— I look up to you, Kevin.

Kevin: 47:08

We need more strong dads, more strong marriages, and we need more good people to have more children, and that's what you're doing.

Del: 47:15

So I love it. Well, I do look up to you and your amazing family. I appreciate all all the stuff that you guys do for not only the poker guys here, but all the young kids that you know in your life that you supporting and all the people that you're supporting with your business as well, and I saw you posting on your social media and how you're helping people go from where they were at in life to a different journey.

Del: 47:37

So thank you for doing all that stuff and it's very inspiring. It's inspiring young kids like me, or young dads like me, to have a strong father figure that's doing such good work in life. So thank you for doing it.

Kevin: 47:51

Awesome. Thanks, bro, friends. Hope you enjoyed and we'll see you next time.

Del: 47:55

God bless.