By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

Alexis Brown has been raised in a family that often puts the needs of others first.

Her grandparents taught Alexis the valuable lesson of selflessness through their work at Crosswalk Community Outreach — a Naples food pantry.

“We like to help others. Seeing my grandparents, I know I can help my community,” the teen said. “Their work inspired me to do this project.”

Alexis’ project — the “Masked Angels” — is to raise funds and collect donations to purchase school supplies to help families in need as they prepare to send their children back to SAD 61 classrooms. With a lot of ground to cover in just a few weeks, Alexis recruited her friend, Trinity Desjardins, also of Naples, to help out.

The goal is to raise $500 to be able to put together 100 essential school supply packs.

“Because of COVID-19, there are many families who might be stressing out because they don’t have the money to go out and get all new supplies, backpacks and even masks,” Alexis said. “It changed my entire perspective, how I see the world. I see how people respond to difficult situations. I learned I should do what I can to help others out.”

Alexis has some local women, who wish to remain anonymous, sewing blue and gold masks, representing Lake Region school colors, to help the cause. Others (about 75) were made for elementary and middle school students.

“We want everyone to be prepared to do their best in school,” Trinity said. “They can focus on academics rather than worrying about how they would get things that they need.”

The collection list includes: notebooks, binders, pencils, color pencils, pens, etc. All supplies will be placed in a backpack and delivered to students (school officials will be contacted for assistance in identifying families that could use help).

Cash donations to: https://venmo.com/

Supply donations: drop off at the Naples Town Hall.

For more information: lakeregionfundraising@gmail.com

With SAD 61 pushing the start of school back to Sept. 14, the girls now have some extra time to collect and possibly exceed their goal.

“We want to help as many students as we can,” Alexis said.

Keeping track of donations. Alexis has a book, which she lists all those who donate. They plan to create a video to thank all those who helped out, as well as outline some fundraisers they hope to launch in 2021.

“Getting the word out because being out in public is still a little iffy. It’s all gone out through social media and family members. It’s been difficult,” Trinity said. The girls have created a video to explain the project and placed it on a Facebook page.

As juniors, Alexis and Trinity are looking to go back to school, even if it is just for a couple days each week under the current “hybrid” format SAD 61 plans to enact. They missed their daily routines.

“Isolation was very hard,” said Trinity about the two to three-month lockdown when COVID struck. “It showed how easy everything could be torn apart. It showed how we take things for granted. We wanted to make the most of it by starting this project. We need to focus on the silver linings. If we dwell on the dark, it won’t be good for our mental health. Doing something positive — and at the same time helping someone else — makes you feel good.”

Alexis said, “Online learning was a wicked, big challenge, for me and lots of students.”

Number of kids put their learning on the back burner. They didn’t feel they had to go. I’m looking forward to going back. For the upperclassmen, it’s going to be a challenge to stick with the rules being set. Some people haven’t seen their friends since the shutdown, and their first reaction is going to be to hug, thinking everything is going back to normal. It’s going to be a big change and really hard at the start.”

Saying teens are “social creatures that need to be with other people, Trinity feels school will be safe if “students follow what they’re told.”

In the meantime, Masked Angels is Alexis’ and Trinity’s assignment, and with the public’s help, they can earn an “A” — for effort.