East Naples Civic & Commerce Growing Strong

It was just a year ago that the East Naples Civic Association and the East Naples Business Group combined to become the East Naples Civic & Commerce Association. On January 19th, the organization celebrated a year of growth with their 2023 Annual Dinner Banquet. Held at The Player’s Club and Spa at Lely, the evening was a celebration of ENC&C’s inaugural year, board nominations and award presentations.

Jacob Winge, ENC&C President, started the evening thanking The Players Club and East Naples Pickleball Center, the evening sponsors. He then moved into a recap of the year that described the importance of East Naples to the county at large. “We are the heart of this county and community,” Winge said, “and I think coming forth from that we have an obligation to look not just at what is going on in our community but what’s coming around us. Because whatever commercial development happens, even at old 41 and 41, the furthest corner of the county, can affect traffic and services and things that happen here in Collier County.” Winge took time to thank Commissioner LoCastro for his strong support of East Naples during redistricting and included newly elected District Four Commissioner Kowal for his immediate involvement in East Naples. Both Commissioners were in attendance.

Winge went on to relate that ENC&C ended the year with over 170 members, a substantial growth in just one year. ENC&C has a strategic five- and ten-year plan that covers everything from new events to revisiting bylaws. Another topic of discussion was the aggressive scholarship goal for the East Naples Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer organization that works in partnership with ENC&C. “This year we are going to try to get $5,000 to $10,000 in scholarships for students in East Naples, something the organization has never been able to do,” Winge said.

The evening culminated in naming the 2022 Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year and DIAMOND Award. J. Nolan Sapp, Chief of the Greater Naples Fire Department won Citizen of the year and Naples Botanical Garden was named Business of the Year. A new honor was added to the event - the DIAMOND Award. DIAMOND stands for dedicated, inspiring, accomplished, motivated, outstanding, noble and driven. County Clerk of Courts, Kristal K. Kinzel, was the first DIAMOND Award recipient.

For information on how you can become a part of ENC&C, go to www.ENcivicandcommerce.org.