Memorial Blood Drive To Honor Firefighter Mason Kraese In Huntington Station

HUNTINGTON STATION, NY — Months after the death of Mason Kraese, the Huntington Manor firefighter, his family is continuing to honor him in a way that reflects how he lived.

The Mason Kraese Memorial Blood Drive will be held Thursday, May 28, from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Huntington Manor Fire Department, 1650 New York Ave., Huntington Station. The event, organized with the New York Blood Center, will be held in memory of Kraese, a firefighter and 2016 Walt Whitman High School graduate who died in an ATV accident on Aug. 30, 2025 in upstate New York. He was 27.

The blood drive, which will be held one week after what would have been Mason's 28th birthday, will also include a collection of toiletries for local veterans, giving people who cannot donate blood another way to support the effort. The event will honor Mason’s life by highlighting his family’s experience with donation — and Mason’s own commitment to giving.

Mason’s father, Phil Kraese, said he received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor and that his family has long believed in organ donation.

“He was a big proponent of organ donation, and he donated blood all the time,” Phil Kraese said.

When Mason died, Phil said his eyes, bones and other tissues were donated, and the family has already received word that his eyes helped recipients. The idea for the blood drive came from Mason’s mother, Mary Beth.

“She came up with it because she's the one who always went with him to give blood,” Phil said. “She wanted to start a memorial blood drive for him to have people come donate blood.”

Once the family received approval to host the event at Huntington Manor Fire Department, the effort moved quickly. Flyers for the drive describe Mason as a lifelong Huntington Station resident, a skilled steamfitter with Local 638 and a proud volunteer firefighter with Huntington Manor Fire Department.

The event is also meant to create space for those who want to be part of the day but cannot donate blood. Phil said some of Mason’s friends and others in the community may be unable to donate or nervous about doing so, which is why the family added the toiletries collection for veterans.

Phil described his son as patriotic and recalled a time when he brought Mason, his younger brothers Gunnar and Colton and others to help pack shoeboxes for soldiers overseas.

Mason’s connection to service is also captured in the photo featured on the blood drive flyer, which shows him in firefighter gear with an American flag draped over his shoulder. Phil said the image carries a special meaning for the family.

“That was his first working fire,” Phil said. “He went in and saved that American flag from inside the house.”

The photo was taken back at the firehouse after Mason returned from the fire, Phil said. It has since become one of the family’s most meaningful images of him.

As the family prepares for the blood drive, they are also continuing other efforts to keep Mason’s memory present in the community. Wristbands and pins are being made for the event as a part of the effort to keep his name alive.

“We love it, because we want to keep his name out,” Phil said. “That's his mother's big thing, to keep his name out there.”

That desire has been reflected in several ways since Mason’s death, including the creation of the Mason Kraese Technical Scholarship at Walt Whitman High School and community tributes from the fire service, friends and local groups.

For Phil, those gestures show how many lives Mason touched, including people the family did not even know he had helped.

After Mason’s funeral, Phil said strangers approached the family to share stories. One woman told him Mason had helped her and her daughter move, using his truck to load and transport their belongings.

“I had no idea he even did that,” Phil said. “He was all over the place.”

Phil said Mason’s passions included trucks, country music, farms and the idea of a hands-on life. He was involved with the Long Island Antique Power Association, where he participated in truck pulls, a motorsport competition in which trucks compete to drag a massive weighted sled the farthest down a dirt track.

Phil said one of the last things Mason did before he died was take his truck out to a pull in Riverhead in early August. After Mason’s death, the group held a memorial truck pull to raise money in his honor.

The grief remains sharp for the family. Phil recalled the day of Mason’s accident, remembering the phone call, the long drive upstate with his wife and sons, and the limited updates they received along the way. His wife prayed the rosary during the drive, he said, while he focused on the road and feared what they would learn when they arrived.

“As I'm driving up, I just had the feeling in me that he was gone,” Phil said.

Phil said one of the most important things grieving parents can do is seek out others who understand. Grief groups have helped his family meet people going through the same kind of pain, including the family of one of the girls killed in a Nassau County crash involving a BMW.

Two 19-year-old women from Levittown, Alexa Duryea and Lindsey Parke, were killed in a high-speed BMW crash on January 23.

Phil's wife, Mary Beth, felt compelled to attend the wake, partly because Parke was also a firefighter, and the families have remained connected through grief groups.

“We've been doing that to join up with other people that are going through the same thing,” Phil said. “You'll never get over it,” he said. “It might get a little easier, but you're never going to get over it.”

Phil said talking about Mason brings back good memories, and the family continues to find comfort in the stories, photos and tributes that reflect who he was. The family recently had Mason’s headstone set before his birthday, he said, and the image of Mason holding the American flag in front of the fire truck is etched into it.

About 121 donor spots are available, and Phil said all are welcome to donate or come to gather at the firehouse, even if they do not donate.

“A successful day is when we fill up all the spots,” Phil said. “And all his friends get together. He always loved to get his friends together.”

Appointments are preferred for the blood drive, though walk-ins will be welcomed if space permits. Donors should bring photo identification or a New York Blood Center donor ID card. Those with medical eligibility questions can call 800-688-0900. The event flyer directs people to scan the QR code or visit donate.nybc.org to sign up