Many of us derive our identities from our work or our occupations. But few people assume an identity derived from an idea. The Do-Good Daniels did.
Robert, a postal worker turned owner of a cleaning supply business, and Christi Daniels, a program manager for Nordstrom department store have been married for seven years. They have four boys ranging in age from 15 to 6. But generosity was a part of their identity long before they became local celebrities after being featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2018.
“It’s important to us to always give when we can,” Christi said. “You could be one paycheck away from having a really hard time.”
At the time, they were living in a two-bedroom apartment in Hawthorne with their sons. Even with their combined income, Southern California housing costs made it difficult to find an abode to comfortably fit their family. Still, they sponsored a family headed by a mother whose husband recently died.
Robert and Christi’s lives changed dramatically when the couple decided to submit a video for the Ellen DeGeneres Geico Skybox contest. Winning would get them a seat in the Geico skybox to watch The Ellen DeGeneres Show live. So the Daniels filmed themselves singing and dancing while dressed like a pair of Santa’s elves.
Although she was a fan of the show, Christi had no previous experience of doing something like that. She said something just told her to do it. But she first had to convince Robert.
When he first heard the idea, he was skeptical. After Christi asked for the fourth time and he saw she was serious, he agreed.
“If we’re going to do this then we gotta do it right,” Robert recalled saying.
Robert described the chain of events, from the making of the video and submitting it to getting a call back from the show within a short period of time almost as a blur.
“When we submitted it, our video instantly won first place,” Robert explained. “They called us like the next morning. It was a really fast process. I’ve never seen a show work like that. I was like what is this about? Then they told us they wanted us in the skybox. It all happened within a week.”
Apparently what clinched the win for the Daniels was a note Christi submitted with the video explaining that the video spiced up their love life. During the show, DeGeneres made light of the note, but the wheels of fate had already begun to turn.
Initially only Christi and Robert were invited to sit in the box seats at the show. When they submitted the video only they were visible. Unseen in the video were the boys, who were singing in the background. The couple reasoned with the staff that because the boys participated in the production of the video they should be able to sit in the skybox with them. The boys weren’t able to sit with them, but the couple was told to bring their boys with them.
Christi explained that while the boys didn’t get to sit in the box seats, DeGeneres’ staff got to observe the family dynamics of the Daniels family and got to know them, particularly as the boys complained about not being able to sit in the skybox and meet Ellen.
It was during this time that Ellen DeGeneres’ staff learned that the family was experiencing financial hardships of their own.
The family made such an impression that they were later invited back to the show, an episode entitled 12 Days of Christmas during which DeGeneres and General Mills Cheerios Cereal gave the family two checks totaling $1 million, $500,0000 for their own financial hardships and $500,000 to give back to the community how they saw fit. The way they spent that money was documented in a web series, naturally called The Do Good Daniels.
Since the series has ended, Robert and Christi have bought a house in San Pedro, where they live with their four boys, RJ, Dylan, Tristan and Houston. They also founded the nonprofit organization, Friendd, which helps families in need.
“We go around, and we kind of just help people that are … just going through life’s challenges,” Robert said. “It’s been really hard [during] the holidays for some people.”
For Robert, it was a no-brainer on how to spend the initial $500,000 donated by DeGeneres and Cheerios.
“Because we already had relationships, we [were] already thinking, ‘How can we do great in the community? Who can we bless? Who can we find?’” he remembered.
The Daniels family used the money to donate Skechers sneakers for the elementary school their children previously attended in South Los Angeles. In addition, they bought a wheelchair accessible van for a nonprofit called Sisters in Watts. They also revamped a community center in a homeless shelter in Los Angeles called A Place Called Home, including the donation of new computers. In addition, they gave $10,000 to a young man who lived at the shelter to help pay for his college tuition.
The family spent the full $500,000 donated to them by The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Cheerios in the series, but since then, the foundation has had personal donors, as well as organizations that it has partnered with.
“That’s the great thing with having this experience,” Robert said. “We have piggybacked off of that, people have seen us with that and wanted to help.”
The foundation has been working with medical professionals that have been fighting the spread of COVID-19. It has partnered with organizations from the San Fernando Valley to visit different hospitals and bring snacks to hospitals, including Torrance Memorial and Little Company of Mary. It has also started its own registry.
Robert and Christi’s children are involved with the organization as well. Robert said they enjoy helping other people, such as giving homeless people food and hygiene products. The entire family volunteers together.
“I love the fact that we get to change people’s lives just by being who we are,” Robert said. “It’s just catapulting us into a whole ‘nother life, to where we get to actually take what we have and share it on a whole other level.”
At one point in his life, Robert aspired to be a pastor, but he now focuses on doing ministry without an official church title. Christi is more interested in couples ministry. She said that many people have asked her for relationship advice.
“People reach out all the time, like, ‘You guys seem to have so much fun,’ or ‘How are you guys doing it with the kids and you guys still have fun with each other, and every time I see you, you guys are so in love,’” Christi said. “That takes work.”
Christi would like to tell their story, and help build strong marriages.
Christi and Robert don’t pretend to be perfect. They’ve had their ups and downs like everyone else. Despite the changes brought to their lives due to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Christi and Robert are still the same Do Good Daniels giving to others despite their own financial hardships.
“[It’s] very important,” Robert said. “Especially in our homes nowadays, we just don’t have enough fathers that stick around.”
Robert noted that he and Christi are both philanthropists and activists. With the finishing of two books, Robert is set to become an author and a motivational speaker. He even has his own podcast called, RiseshineNdogood. As of late, Robert has taken on a new task: health, fitness and healthy living starting with the mind, body and soul. Anyone who saw him on the DeGeneres show versus now would be shocked by his weight loss journey. Robert has lost 75 pounds.
The first of Robert’s two books, Break the Chain, is a self-help book that draws from his life about overcoming limits, pathways to success, child rearing and avoiding passing on toxic child rearing practices. The other is Robert’s autobiography, Beating All Odds.
Robert was raised by his grandmother. His father was gunned down before he was born. Robert’s mother died from a drug overdose a month and eight days after he was born.
“I was born into this world as a drug baby,” Robert said. “Within that, there were just so many obstacles. … I had to learn how to turn my weaknesses into strengths, because I wasn’t a kid that could learn like everybody else.”
Robert has attention deficit disorder, and trouble with reading and writing. Robert said he didn’t know how to channel his energy or how to get people to pay attention to him so that he could get the help that he needed.
“The book is all about overcoming … in spite of all the things that I’ve been dealing with,” Robert said. “I’ve even been beat, I’ve been … molested, I’ve … just been exposed to some real harsh things growing up, and having to learn how to find my place and give it to my children of what my experiences have been like, so they don’t have to experience the same thing.”
Though their nonprofit is small, Christi and Robert have big plans for San Pedro, where the family has now lived for a year. The plans include trying to help homeless people and support low-income families.
Robert said that he wants Friendd to work with other nonprofits in San Pedro, such as Harbor Interfaith and others engaged in the work of assisting the poor and the disadvantaged.
“It’s very important to us that we find a way to bridge the gap between the nonprofits here and become very familiar with them … becoming familiar with us … combine forces, and try to get what needs to be done around San Pedro,” Robert said.
Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks contributed to this story.