Hyde Park student makes healthy snacks for essential workers

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A seventh grade student on Chicago's South Side is stepping up and looking out for essential workers, sharing the message that you're never too young to help.

Instead of playing his favorite video game, 12-year-old Darius Mason is busy making healthy snacks for hospital workers.

"I wanted to help them to be able to keep going so they can keep helping us," Darius said.

It's also personal for this seventh-grader at St. Thomas the Apostle in Hyde Park.

"One of my uncles got infected and my aunt passed away," Darius said.

That was a call to action for the Boy Scout, who has always been taught to help others.

"You should always give back. You should always make sure that people are taken care of, and you would want someone to treat you the same way," said Cikea Mason, Darius' mother.

Darius is just getting started, but he's already given 120 snack-packs to three local hospitals.

The snack-packs contain trail mix, pretzels, Cheese-Its, and Nutri-Grain bars, to name a few. Each one also has a note, shared by a proud mother.

"Because he's a kid, more than anything, they are very grateful," Cikea Mason said.

"They said, 'Thank you,' and they were smiling along," Darius said.

Darius has some advice for other young people.

"I would tell them to be themselves. Be active in your own way and second, be helpful," he said.