This week’s winner of the Jefferson Award is an Army veteran who continues to live a life of service into his 80s, feeding hundreds of San Francisco families every week.
The operation is like a well-oiled machine. Volunteers distribute boxes of fresh produce to distribute to 350 families.
Robert Mason oversees the afternoon assembly line. He lives by a simple rule.
“Everyone, if they think about it, they have something to give to others,” Mason told CBS News Bay Area.
At age 85, Mason runs the free grocery giveaway at his church, Temple United Methodist in San Francisco. Together with the SF Marin Food Bank, he helped set up the food bank more than twenty years ago.
“I grew up in church. I think it’s normal to want to help other people if you can,” he said.
CBS
Mason served in the military for 33 years in countries including Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan. The sergeant major was like a spy eavesdropping on the North Koreans’ radio communications.
“I ended up being a Morse code interceptor,” he smiled.
Nowadays he intercepts hunger.
Mason volunteers every day, mainly giving away groceries at the food bank and bringing food home. He also served with Food Runners for at least a decade.
At the food bank he keeps track of the numbers to ensure that everyone gets what they need, no one goes hungry and nothing goes to waste.
He attributes his meticulous record keeping and humility to his military training.
“When you get these skills, whatever you do, it all comes naturally,” Mason explains.
Years ago he was awarded a certificate for giving out a million pounds worth of free groceries, but since then he can only guess how much he gave away.
‘A billion? “I don’t know,” he chuckled.
He does know that there are 21 families on the waiting list, and that there are long lines for the weekly collection services.
Crystal is grateful for the fresh food for her family of three.
“Every time we go grocery shopping we pay a lot, so it really helps the family,” she told CBS News Bay Area.
For Ruth Rogers, a long-time volunteer, Mason is a permanent fixture in the church: an all-round volunteer that they cannot do without.
“He’s one of those people: He knows where to find the ovens when they’re not turning on. He knows where to find the light switches so we can change the timing of the outside lights,” she noted.
As Mason serves, he encourages others to follow.
“They need to look at what they have versus what other people don’t have, and what they can do to help someone else have a better life,” he said.
For his volunteer work to feed his community, this week’s Bay Area Jefferson Award goes to Robert Mason.
Sharon Chin
