9-year-old Lions fan earns ticket to Bills game for collecting cans for families in need

CLARKSTON, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Lions take on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, but the star at Ford Field won't be on the gridiron. He'll be in the stands, and he’s just 9 years old.

His name is Mason Bonds. He’s 9 years old, a student at Pine Knob Elementary, and he won a school-wide food drive competition: collecting 411 cans of non-perishables to help families in need. The most of any student.

"The teacher said ‘Ms. Majestic’ and everybody was screaming so we couldn't hear my name," said Bonds. "I couldn’t hear my name but I already knew cause she, someone walked in and gave me the ticket to the Lions game," said Bonds.

In fact, he won 3 tickets to this Sunday's Bills-Lions game. His first game ever. He says it feels good to go, but feels even better to help the less fortunate.

"I hope the people that don’t need anything could give the people in need stuff," he said. 

The donations are kept at Calvary Lutheran Church in Clarkston. Then it'll go to the Lighthouse, which will make sure it goes to hundreds of families in Oakland County. The success of this doesn't just stem from Mason’s heart but the whole school rallying behind it. 

Katrina Rivenburgh, of Driven Engineered Solutions, which partnered with Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs for the food drive, says in total all the students collected 9,200 items. The amount totaled over 6,000 pounds of food items.

"We collected food, as far as cans, boxes," said Rivenburgh. "We also collected health and beauty items such as shampoo, conditioner, body wash. There were so many students who made a flyer, went door to door, and made their best effort." 

Bonds says it was fun, but he's so ready for the game. Gibbs is his favorite player. Sunday he’ll meet him, and he knows exactly what he’s going to say.

"I’m going to say, can I get an autograph?" he said.