World’s Top Guided-Travel Company Sends 150 Employees
And Guests For Massive Clean-Up Of Historic Site
NORWALK, CT (October 29, 2004) Tauck World Discovery of Norwalk, CT, the world’s premier name in guided travel, invaded Ellis Island today. Approximately 150 Tauck employees, their spouses and children, and past Tauck travelers spread out across the island in a massive volunteer effort to preserve and protect the historic site before the onset of punishing winter weather.
According to Al Farrugio, Horticulturist for the Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, the large volunteer effort is critical because it allows the park’s overworked staff to focus their efforts on key preservation tasks. “There are a hundred different projects – all important – urgently competing for our attention on the island,” said Farrugio. “Having such a large volunteer group tackle many of the less technical tasks allows us to focus our limited staffing on the most pressing preservation projects.” The Tauck volunteers are spending the day erecting temporary fencing, painting boats, cataloguing historic documents, pulling weeds, raking leaves, and more.
Tauck’s volunteerism effort at Ellis Island is being mirrored with a west coast event taking place today in San Francisco Bay. Approximately 30 Tauck employees and volunteers are performing similar preservation and restoration work there on Angel Island, often called “the Ellis Island of the West.”
“Tauck has been taking travelers to our National Parks since 1926, so we have a long association with the Parks and the Park Service,” explained company president Robin Tauck. “Helping out at Ellis Island and Angel Island is a great way to give something back to the Park Service. On a more personal level, this effort also has great meaning for the Tauck family, as my great-grandfather Herman Tauchnitz arrived in America through Ellis Island.”
The volunteer projects at Ellis and Angel Islands are just the latest examples of Tauck’s efforts to “give something back” to America’s National Parks, which have been featured in the company’s North American tour itineraries since 1926.
Coincidentally, Tauck is being honored this week with the Travel Industry Association of America’s 2004 “Public & Community Service” Odyssey Award for an innovative volunteer program the company runs at Yellowstone National Park with its guests. Last year more than half of Tauck’s guests visiting Yellowstone chose to participate in the program, contributing 4,800 hours of volunteer work valued by park officials at over $75,000. The 1,600 volunteers worked on 29 different projects at various locations around the park.
In 2000, the Tauck family made a $250,000 grant to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado that was matched by an equal grant from the Save America’s Treasures program. Since 2000, the company has also organized volunteerism efforts among its staff at Mesa Verde and ten other National Parks and national historic sites. Tauck has also offered its guests volunteer opportunities at Glacier National Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park and Grand Canyon National Park.
ABOUT ELLIS ISLAND
Located in New York Harbor, the Ellis Island Immigration Station operated from 1892 until 1954. During that time more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, reaching a peak of 1.25 million in 1907. Approximately 40% of Americans living today can trace at least one ancestor's arrival through the island.
The island’s Main Building was reopened to the public in 1990 as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, and today receives almost 2 million visitors annually. Unfortunately, the popularity and visibility of the museum often obscures the fact that the majority of Ellis Island and its many other buildings are in dire need of rehabilitation or restoration.
For more information on Tauck World Discovery and its on-tour volunteer opportunities, visit Tauck’s web site at www.tauck.com/volunteerism, or call them toll-free at 1-800/214-5158.
