An 8-year-old boy from Massachusetts is helping his local food pantry in a big way just days before Thanksgiving.Belmond Schwartz started recruiting neighbors and friends in September to collect food for the Mansfield Food Pantry. He eventually called upon stores like Walmart, Stop & Shop, Big Y and Target to donate to his cause."There are a lot of people who don't have food and I just wanted to help them in any way I can," Schwartz said.On Sunday, the third-grader worked with family, friends and firefighters to load the weeks' worth of food he collected for the food pantry onto trucks."I think this will keep us pretty well stocked through January, mid-February," said Maria Smith, who runs the Mansfield Food Pantry. "It's great for the Mansfield community."Steven Schwartz, Belmond's father, said his son got the idea to collect food to donate ahead of Thanksgiving after a recent trip to California, where he saw people who were homeless and hungry."He saw tents out there and he was just kind of shocked by it," Steven Schwartz said. "And he asked me what it was about. My wife and I, his mom and I, told him what it was about and he was really impacted." Belmond turns 9 years old just after Thanksgiving, and he says he already got his birthday wish."I don't want any presents. I think that if I help people, that it will make me feel good," he said. Watch the full story in the video above.

An 8-year-old boy from Massachusetts is helping his local food pantry in a big way just days before Thanksgiving.

Belmond Schwartz started recruiting neighbors and friends in September to collect food for the Mansfield Food Pantry. He eventually called upon stores like Walmart, Stop & Shop, Big Y and Target to donate to his cause.

"There are a lot of people who don't have food and I just wanted to help them in any way I can," Schwartz said.

On Sunday, the third-grader worked with family, friends and firefighters to load the weeks' worth of food he collected for the food pantry onto trucks.

"I think this will keep us pretty well stocked through January, mid-February," said Maria Smith, who runs the Mansfield Food Pantry. "It's great for the Mansfield community."

Steven Schwartz, Belmond's father, said his son got the idea to collect food to donate ahead of Thanksgiving after a recent trip to California, where he saw people who were homeless and hungry.

"He saw tents out there and he was just kind of shocked by it," Steven Schwartz said. "And he asked me what it was about. My wife and I, his mom and I, told him what it was about and he was really impacted."

Schwartz family

Belmond turns 9 years old just after Thanksgiving, and he says he already got his birthday wish.

"I don't want any presents. I think that if I help people, that it will make me feel good," he said.

Watch the full story in the video above.

A Massachusetts woman who has been hospitalized with COVID-19 has been getting a daily boost from one of her lifelong friends, a Boston police officer, in the form of song.Boston police Lt. Gary Eblan records videos of himself singing along to inspirational songs in the car and sends them to Tina Santoro Asmar, who was admitted to Newton-Wellesley Hospital nearly three weeks ago.Some of the songs on Eblan's uplifting playlist include "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey, Queen's "We Are the Champions," and "You Raise Me Up" as performed by Josh Groban. Asmar says that her condition has been "touch and go" at times, but thanks to family, friends and Eblan's videos, her spirits are up and her condition is improving.The pair have been friends since they were in first grade.Asmar is the owner of Santoro's Sicilian Trattoria in Dedham and has been featured on sister station WCVB's "Chronicle."She says she came down with COVID-19 just days before she was scheduled to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, and she is urging everyone to get vaccinated.Watch the video above to learn more about this story.