Welcome to Ben’s Cabin!

My name is James Oates and I created Ben’s Cabin in 2019 after a hunting trip in South Dakota the previous September with three friends. After arriving, we noticed pictures and framed articles telling of a tragic accident that had happened to a young man from that area. The more I read, I realized it was Mike Authier’s son, the owner of the place we were staying.

After breakfast the first morning, one of my buddies gently asked Mike if he could share his story with us. Through many tears, he shared what had happened to his son. All four of us had sons around the same age of his son and we could only imagine the grief he was dealing with yet watched a man thank God for the time he had with his son. Over the next three days, we laughed and cried with him as he shared so many happy memories of his son and a bond was created, unlike anything I had experienced over a four day period.

The camp we were staying in would house over thirty people and we were the only four there that week. We had tried to make this trip for over 10 years and always had something that kept us from making it happen. After reflecting on the trip and everything that had unfolded, I believe it was not a coincidence that we timed our trip to this moment. A family friend told us on the last day of the trip, that Mike had talked to us more about the accident in those four days than the entire 13 months since his son’s loss. The fact that we were the only people in the camp, meant that we got to spend one on one time with the owner for the entire trip.

Mike’s son Ben was a student at the South Dakota School of the Mines & Technology and had a promising future. After the tragedy, several loved ones and longtime clients started a scholarship fund at the school in his honor.

This brings me to why I am writing this and why you are viewing this website. Soon after arriving home from my hunt, I started having this nagging feeling. I wanted to do something to help build this scholarship fund and to help this father honor the life of his son.

Instead of giving a lump sum of money, I decided that I would use that money to develop something sustainable that could continually provide money for the scholarship. When you purchase an item from Ben's Cabin, a percentage of the purchase price will go to the scholarship fund that has been established in Ben’s honor.

I hope these lamps brighten your day like I know it will for the students who receive the scholarship money that is generated by your purchase.

God bless you and your family!

 

James