PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Some 175 travel professionals converged in Providence, Rhode Island, on September 15 to participate in a series of community service projects organized by Tourism Cares. Tourism Cares is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that works with leading travel associations and companies to enhance the social impact of the travel industry on local communities. Volunteers worked at three different sites in the city, providing over $50,000 of donated value to the area.
“Volunteers are critical to our work in parks,” said Wendy Nilsson, superintendent of the Providence Parks and Recreation Department. “Through volunteers and community partners, we are able to create unique and responsive public places that reflect our collaborative, connected and creative city.”
Together, volunteers completed nearly seven weeks’ worth of work in a single day; they planted 900 plants in India Point Park and Burnside Park, painted the Riverwalk for the first time in 20 years and added a new mural outside the historic Scialos Brothers Bakery, which has stood on Federal Hill for more than 100 years.
“The weather behaved. The addition of so many plants, the trimming of trees, the painting, the weeding, the brickwork, the mulching and more happened because of all of you,” Nilsson said to the volunteers following the event. “Our city is so much more sparkly than it was yesterday, and we made some new friends from all over the world.”
Tourism Cares chose to highlight City Tourism in 2017 in accordance with the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, which recognized City Tourism as a key component in the promotion of sustainable living and development. Other cities included in this year’s program are Oakland, California; Detroit; and Toronto.
For more information on participating in a Tourism Cares event, visit www.tourismcares.org.
