A national business association that held its annual conference on Marco Island has raised more than $300,000 for a local food pantry.
NAPEO, the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, said in September that its charitable program brought in $300,628 for Our Daily Bread Food Pantry. The pantry is a nonprofit based on Marco Island that assists struggling families throughout Collier County, according to the Naples Daily News.
Presented at the annual conference
The money was presented at NAPEO’s 2026 Annual Conference & Marketplace. Hundreds of professional leaders from around the country gathered on Marco Island for what the Naples Daily News calls the industry’s premier education and networking event.
The donation comes through NAPEO Gives Back, a program that supports the communities hosting the association’s conference. Casey Clark, NAPEO’s president and CEO, said in a statement that the program reflects the group’s values.
“Through our NAPEO Gives Back program, we are committed to leaving the communities that host our annual conference a little better than we found them.”
Clark said the work might mean helping small businesses expand, backing employees or serving a community that needs help, and that “that spirit of service is at the heart of what PEOs do.”
Funds will support pantry vehicles
Our Daily Bread works to give families across Collier County access to nourishing food. According to the report, the money will go toward improving and maintaining the pantry’s vehicles: a van for outreach and food drives, and a truck that collects donations from grocery stores.
Last year alone, the pantry packed 20,000 backpacks of weekend food for students and gave out about 2 million pounds of food. Its flagship Saturday pantry and its mobile sites together reached 67,000 households.
Evelyn Rossetti-Ryan, the pantry’s executive director, said in a statement that the support will help sustain that work.
“This support from NAPEO and the PEO industry means we can keep our mobile pantries on the road, strengthen our community outreach and continue providing nutritious meals to families throughout Marco Island and Collier County.”
Giving since 2019
Since 2019, more than $1 million has gone to local charities through NAPEO Gives Back, in the cities, counties and towns that have welcomed the association’s yearly conferences.
Businesses known as professional employer organizations, or PEOs, take on tasks such as payroll, benefits, workers’ compensation, help with regulatory compliance and other HR functions. According to the report, they serve more than 230,000 small and midsize businesses across the United States, which together employ more than 5.4 million people.
Originally reported by the Naples Daily News via the Miami Herald.
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