Naples teens distribute thousands of free masks

“We just want to make sure everyone is as safe as they can be.”

Samara and Aliq Jivani are two teens stepping up to help Southwest Florida fight mask shortages caused by COVID-19.

“My aunt’s a nurse and at her hospital, they had barely any masks, so my sister came up with the idea to order masks,” Aliq said.

“Either you can choose to just sit there and watch it happen or you can try your best to do something to help the community,” Samara said.

You can catch them standing outside of Juicelation in Naples before and after their online schooling.

“We have school at nine, so we get up around six. We’re all set up and ready to go around seven,” Samara said.

That’s six hours every weekday they spend handing out FDA-approved KN-95 masks their family purchased for this purpose.

“We’re doing it for anyone who’s an active health care professional or senior citizen or who needs a mask,” Samara said. “We made flyers and we handed them out at multiple locations throughout Collier County.”

“When people come by to get masks and stuff, a lot of them are really happy and proud to see what we’re doing,” Aliq said.

And they’re doing it during their weekends too! So far, they’ve given out nearly 7,000 masks — more than halfway to their ambitious giving goal.

“Our goal was 15,000 masks,” Samara said.

Fifteen thousand masks from two Community School of Naples students setting an example of “Gulfshore Strong” service.

They will be outside of Juicelation located at 4947 Tamiami Trail North #104 in Naples on Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. On Sundays they are offering delivery. For more information on that, you can email them at sajivani28@gmail.com.