Once again, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputies have gone above and beyond, working to help out their community. Working to promote public safety and public health, deputies gave out bags containing personal hygiene items to residents of Immokalee beginning at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 7, 2020. Wearing protective masks, they greeted residents, and gave reminders about frequent and proper hand washing, social distancing, and the current stay at home order.

“I am grateful for their advice and help,” one of the residents who received a bag said, “It’s scary having to go to work everyday. I make just barely enough to be able to feed my family and pay bills, but at my job they don’t give us safety supplies like this.”

“Frank Rincon of the Benison Center, a resource and distribution center in Immokalee, provided the 20,000 gloves that were distributed. Collier County Emergency Management supplied the hand sanitizer, while CCSO provided the soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes,” CCSO wrote on their Facebook Page.

Residents were thankful for the help, as many had not been able to obtain the crucial sanitary supplies. The Deputies were able to distribute more than 200 bags. Each bag contained hand sanitizer, soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, and 100 plastic gloves.

“This is stressful. This is a lot. This is hard. It’s okay to not be okay right now. Most of us are not okay with all of this. But don’t give up. Acknowledge the challenge and embrace the fact that what we are all doing right now IS making a difference. We all serve a purpose and now more than ever, we all have a great and important mission to keep each other and ourselves safe and healthy,” another CCSO Facebook post read. “A little illustrated bear once said ‘You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.’ Of course he also wore a crop top, no pants, ate only his favorite food and loved himself. Hey, that’s pretty much all of us these days, right? Including us, off duty of course. But back to Winnie the Pooh: he loved himself. And we need to do more of that right now. Take care of ourselves. Get rest, turn off the TV, take a social media break, take deep breaths. We’ll get through this.”

They reminded everyone, “If you or someone you care about are having a tough time thinking through or dealing with these trying days and nights, it’s okay. There’s great help in our community. Call the David Lawrence Center at 239.572.9070.”