Neighbors helping neighbors: North Naples community help strangers in need

It’s all-hands-on-deck in most communities in Southwest Florida in an effort to help those impacted by COVID-19.

In one North Naples neighborhood, people are wearing masks and donating food to help the community.

Helping friends and strangers in a time of great need. That’s what it’s all about.

Erika Rohde is the Delasol HOA president. She says, “When there is a need, we come together and we will figure out how we can help not only our Delasol community, but Naples as a whole.”

The community in North Naples does it all. From sewing and donating more than 400 masks to connecting local businesses with neighbors through food truck deliveries.

“Those masks have gone to hospice centers, they’ve gone to nursing homes, they’ve gone to hospitals,” Rohde said. And for the food trucks, “This not only helps out the community, but it also helps to keep paychecks going to farmers, paychecks going to employees, it helps out our local businesses.”

They even host a neighborhood donation drive to support places like St. Matthew’s House.

Jill Schmieg is on the social committee at Delasol, and says, “Over 100 houses in our community participated in that food drive, and we have about 1,100 non-perishable food items that we’ll be driving to st. Matthew’s house today.”

A community working together to help neighbors overcome the distance while going the distance, making Southwest Florida #GulfshoreStrong.