Mar 3, 2005 4:36 pm US/Pacific
East Bay Woman Gives a Voice to Children in Need
By Kate Kelly
(CBS 5)
Angela Mason's life changed in an instant. After watching a report on the hoplessnes of orphans in communist Romania, she decided to make a difference. She traveled to Europe to give first hand help to starving children forced to live in freezing hovels.
On her first trip, she was shocked by what she saw.
"They screamed at me. I screamed at them. I came out and I just remember thinking I can't do this! I have no skills to know how to do any of this," said Mason, who soon regained her resolve. "Something just came to me and said 'come on, dry up! You've just got to start and get this place cleared up."
Angela realized that getting the orphan's story back to the Bay Area was the key to giving them help. So she took the first of what would become decades of media tours, convincing KRON-TV to film the orphanages.
In the years that followed, she took KRON to Thailand to expose child prostitution. She showed KGO viewers the effect of AIDS on the children of Uganda, and ushered KTVU through war-torn Bosnia. KPIX viewers will remember Angela's effort to expose the genocide that was devistating the population of Rwanda. Each time, the stories she brought back generated endless waves of Bay Area support.
"I think that's the big thing about Angela…that she makes things happen," said Psychologist Warren Dale.
Dale taught Angela to interview the victims of violence without reigniting their trauma.
"She's able to come back here and she recreates in her storytelling, the experience and the event. And for people who have been watching these things on television and wondering how can I possibly help? She's able to say here, here's a way to do it," said Dale
Matching people in desperate need with people who have resources to help is what Angela calls "the triumph."
"That's the beyond-words bit when somebody says how can I help? And I say well you can help, you can make a difference," says Mason.
It happened after KPIX profiled a widows group in Rwanda. A group of professional women in San Francisco saw the story, arranged a fundraiser, and collected $3,000 for genocide survivors. Then fundraiser founder Kathleen Kelly hand-carried that money to Rwanda. It's the kind of full-circle Angela aims for every time.
"I'm entrusted with the stories of remarkable people around the world," says Mason. "I have the privilege of traveling around the world, getting to know the men, women, and children who are the unsung heroes of our world. And I collect stories. I'm a sort of storyteller."
For traveling to the world's darkest places, lending her voice, this week's Jefferson Award goes to Angela Mason.
For more information on how you can help children in need please visit
World Vision.
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