Mason Daniels, 8-Year-Old Humanitarian

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Mason Daniels was only 4 years old, but he showed more compassion than some adults serving in the presidential administration — Mason asked his mom if he could help and started doing chores to earn money to donate to the survivors and relief efforts. The experience led him to join a Samaritan’s Purse Project, Operation Christmas Child, in 2007, mailing shoeboxes of gifts and necessities to other children across the globe.

Now 8 and a student at Adrian Burnett Elementary school, Mason plans to participate in OCC again this year, and as a press release notes, his goal has risen to 108 mailed shoeboxes: “When asked why he picked 108, he simply said it was because he had ‘just learned to count to 100,’ and also because he was ‘almost eight.’”

The young humanitarian’s work this year is in honor of his friend Emily who passed away this summer from a rare form of cancer. His efforts were joined by Salem Baptist Church, which held a shoebox collection drive Oct. 28 with a goal of collecting 500 boxes to commemorate Mason’s friend. He and his mother Angie Daniels, a police officer at his school, sat with Knoxville Voice to discuss the meaning behind his volunteer work.

 How did you decide you wanted to help out with Katrina?

Mason: My Dad went down there to help them.

What kind of work did he do?

Mason: I don’t know.

So your dad went down there, then you decided you wanted to help, too?

Mason: Yeah

What did you do?

Mason: Oh, I sent them my allowance.

What did you do to earn your allowance?

Mason: Chores.

How much did you wind up sending down there?

Mason: I have no clue.

Did you feel good after you sent them your allowance?

Mason: Yeah, I felt great.

Did you get your friends involved or anything?

Mason: I got my preschool.

And what did they do to help?

Mason: Money.

Did they give their allowance too?

Mason: I don’t know.

Angie: You had a jar, remember?

So, doing things like giving your allowance to Katrina victims made you want to help with Operation Christmas Child?

Mason: I forgot.

How did you get started [with OCC]?

Mason: I collected money.

And then what did you do?

Mason: Bought shoeboxes.

Angie: Remember at Nana’s church, during the children’s story they told you about shoeboxes? You decided last year you wanted to do how many?

Mason: 70. And I met my goal!

Good job. Can you tell me a little about the shoebox program, in general? Why do you do it?

Mason: Because it makes the people feel good who get them and they can learn about God more.

Angie: This could make them feel good because this could be their first Christmas present ever.

Mason: I already knew that.

Angie: I know but [KV] doesn’t. You’ve got to persuade her to make a box.

And where are the shoeboxes mailed?

Mason: China, India, everywhere in the world.

What do you put in the shoeboxes?

Mason: Candy, but not chocolate.

Why can’t you put chocolate in there?

Mason: It’ll melt. We also put stuffed animals.

Do you put any necessities in there? Like not fun things, but things they need to have?

Mason: Pencils, pencil sharpeners, pens, that stuff. Tooth brush, soap.

Do you have different shoeboxes for boys and girls?

Mason: The girls can get hair bows and that kind of stuff and the boys can get racecars.

Are there shoeboxes for different ages?

Mason: Yes.

How are the ages divided?

Mason: Like up to 45 years old.

Angie: I don’t think it’s that old, he always wants to say that. It’s up to 14, I believe. He always wants to do the 5-to 9-year age because that’s around his age.

Mason: Yep. But in two years it won’t be my age.

Is there ever stuff you put in the shoeboxes that you want to keep?

Mason: Letters.

Angie: Letters? I think what she means is how [your] brother always wants to keep the toys. You’re pretty good about it, but [your] brother always wants to keep them and play with them.

So there’s never been anything you wanted to keep?

Mason: Nope. If we sent a dog, I would have.

I don’t think you could fit a dog in a box, though.

Mason: If we had a big box we could send Hoffman.

Angie: But then you wouldn’t have Hoffman anymore.

Who’s Hoffman?

Mason: My dog.

So do you like giving your allowance and birthday money to make these boxes?

Mason: Yes

Do you feel like you’re making a difference?

Mason: Yeah

If I wanted to make a shoebox, can you tell me what I would need to do from beginning to finish?

Mason: Make money, buy stuff that you can put in there.

Angie: Like what?

Mason: Haven’t I already gone over this?

Is there stuff you can’t put in there?

Mason: Chocolate, a toy gun, a toy knife, a real knife, a real gun.

Angie: They don’t like some things because sometimes the countries the boxes go to are in the middle of wars so they don’t want to do be dealing with that kind of thing.

And once you fill the boxes, then you get to wrap them? Do you like doing that?

Mason: She (mom) does all the work.

So you don’t like wrapping them?

Mason: I like doing my real job better, putting the stuff in there. She has to do the hard work.

Have you tried wrapping a box before?

Angie: You get kind of tangled up in the tape, don’t you?

Mason: Yeah.

And where do they go?

Mason: We shipped them to South America or some place. I  helped load the truck to send them.

What was it like loading shoeboxes onto the truck?

Mason: It was my very first time. It was good.

If you had to guess how many shoeboxes there were, what would you say?

Mason: 1,000.

Angie: I think there were more than that.

Mason: More? Infinity.

Angie: Knoxville area collected 32,000 last year.

Does your brother help you?

Mason: Sometimes. When he’s not grouchy.

Is it fun working with him?

Mason: Sometimes, when we aren’t wrestling.

Can you put a letter in the shoebox?

Angie: Yeah, although Mason did Christmas cards last year. Last year he just did Christmas cards, but this year he wanted to write them a letter telling a little about himself.

What did you write?

Mason: That I’m 8 years old, my address, what day it was, I have a little brother, that I play sports.

What sports do you like to play?

Mason: Basketball, football, baseball, soccer.

Angie: We haven’t heard back from any of the kids except for one last year. Our area coordinator got to go to Peru and he carried one box we all put something in and gave it to a little boy. We saw pictures of that. And then we saw a girl in Ecuador get the first Emily shoebox.

Who is Emily?

Mason: She’s one of my schoolmates.

Why do you call them Emily boxes?

Mason: Because Emily liked butterflies and there’s butterfly wrapping paper on them. She died this summer of a bad cancer, and she’s been in the news so she’s famous.

Angie: They put in a little note about her. She really liked butterflies and had a special one named Sarah. They wrote a little children’s book story about it.

Mason: She was on the cover of a magazine.

Angie: The Children’s Hospital Magazine.

So you’re doing these in memory of her?

Angie: Her church was doing them and he wanted to do some. To do part of his goal he wanted to do some of their Emily boxes.

How many Emily boxes are they trying to send?

Mason: 500, I think. I think right now we have about 400.

Do you want to keep on working with Operation Christmas Child when you get bigger?

Angie: What did you tell me you wanted to do before you became a doctor?

Mason: Go on a mission to give people shoeboxes. Except I wish we could just use a time portal to transport us there so it would be much faster.

Anywhere in particular you want to go?

Mason: Everywhere. No, China, so I can get secret gadgets.

What kind of secret gadgets?

Mason: Stuff so I can climb on the wall, or on the ceiling.

What would you say to get people to donate things or money for a shoebox?

Mason: Please send shoeboxes. For people to learn about God and so they can get their very first Christmas present.

Angie: He’s got big dreams and big goals, we’re just doing our best to help him reach them.

How are you going to reach your goal this year?

Mason: Make $1,084 and buy boxes and buy stuff.

Angie: And we’re going to ask friends to help.

Mason: Yeah we’ll do that, too. And raise 1,000 and infinity dollars.

Knoxville is one of the Top 10 cities donating to OCC’s shoe box collection. In 2007, more than 32,000 needy children received Christmas shoe box gifts thanks to Knoxville-area residents.

Knox-area volunteers are gearing up for National Collection Week Nov. 17-24 with hopes of collecting more than 32,000 gifts this year. From Knoxville, the shoe box gifts will be sorted and sent using whatever means necessary — sea containers, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes, helicopters, boats, camels, even dog sleds — to reach underprivileged children around the world.

To locate the center nearest you, log onto www.samaritanspurse.org and enter your zip code into  the zip code locator.

Residents can drop off their shoe boxes at any of these locations.

Knoxville Expo Center
5441 Clinton Hwy.
Collection Hours:
Monday through Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Thursday through Saturday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday: 9 a.m to 7 p.m.

FSG Bank, NA
2905 Maynardville Hwy.
Collection Hours:
Monday through Thursday: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: 8:30 a.m. to noon / By appointment only 
Sunday: 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. / By appointment only
Monday: 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Park West Church of God
7635 Middlebrook Pike
Collection Hours:
Monday through Friday: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday: 8 a.m. 9:30 a.m.