Tourism Cares for America Gives Back to Angel Island

June 8, 2010

More than 300 tourism professionals representing 100 companies and four countries gathered in San Francisco June 4 to take part in the annual Tourism Cares for America clean-up event. The site of this year’s project was Angel Island, a historic parcel of land in San Francisco Bay that is recognized as the Ellis Island of the West. Its Immigration Station, now a National Historic Landmark, was the processing center for approximately 1 million Asian emigrants from 1910 to 1940, and the island now serves as a nature lover’s playground with expansive views of the city skyline.

"Alcatraz is well known around the world for its history and its iconic status, but Angel Island is a little different," said Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of the San Francisco CVB. "Not only does it have its cultural heritage and tradition . . . but it is this beautiful, natural, wild piece of real estate in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Angel Island has the same spirit and history to Asians as Ellis Island has to Europeans."

Various jobs performed on the island included stacking timber, painting restrooms, splitting logs, clearing brush and debris, repairing docks and laying cement. Click here to hear about the day’s activities from NTA members who attended the event.

Since the philanthropic initiative began in 2003, approximately 2,000 volunteers have donated more than 20,000 hours of work to historical and cultural sites in need of preservation and restoration.

Click here to see more videos from the Tourism Cares event.