Board Member Highlight: Daniel Hawthorne

Daniel Hawthorne grew up being taught to give back to his community and he carried this with him when he moved to St. Louis. Understanding that St. Louis’s reputation is often misunderstood, Daniel wanted to provide services, help the city and change the perceptions surrounding it. Daniel became connected to  Mission: St. Louis through his church in 2017. Along with his role as a Strategic Account Director at MongoDB, Daniel also now serves on the Mission: St. Louis Board of Directors. At an Essentials Drive, where Daniel and his team volunteered, we sat down to ask him a few questions about his journey with Mission: St. Louis. 

 1. What inspired you to get involved with Mission: St. Louis? 

“I was going to the Journey church when I came to St. Louis and Josh Wilson, the Mission: St. Louis executive director spoke about the organization. I was really attracted by one of the stats that showed up on the screen around recidivism. At the time, it was that around 93 percent of people that went through a Mission: St. Louis program did not return to incarcerated situations. That, being a big passion of mine to keep that from happening, I was called to come to the organization. 

I started out as a mentor and did that for a few years. I learned a lot from the mentees along the way. Oftentimes, we think of mentorship as a one-sided relationship, but in reality, I got more from my mentees than I probably gave them. Eventually, I said, ‘You know what? I want to take on a more programmatic perspective’ and that’s when I joined the board about five years ago." 

2. In what ways has being on the board and working with Mission: St. Louis impacted you both personally and professionally? 

“What I like about Mission: St. Louis is you get exposed to what's actually happening. It's not the news or what you see, a narrative that someone else wants to tell.  

It's actually a narrative of beauty in the city. You see organizations like Mission: St. Louis, people that work here, volunteers or staff that just have a passion for building up our community, making sure that people outside of St. Louis understand the value that's here.” 

3. What brings you to volunteer at our Essentials Drive? 

“Everyone coming together and seeing the smiles on people's faces right when you give them a bag of essential goods. I think there’s a big opportunity for me to do more of this, to connect my corporate job into my aspect of wanting to give back to the community.” 

4. Can you share a memorable experience during your time with Mission: St. Louis? 

“One of the many memorable experiences for me was Affordable Christmas two years ago. I brought my oldest daughter to volunteer and she was able to see what we did on the front end and also see the actual community come in and see the smiles again that they were having.”