VC on the short list for national improvement project

Virginia City could be the next site for a massive beautification project coordinated by a national nonprofit group.

Up to 400 volunteers with the Tourism Cares for Tomorrow public charity may work in Virginia City on beautification and cleanup projects. Bruce Bommarito, executive director of the Nevada Commission on tourism, said the historic site is one of two cities being considered as the spring 2007 service destination.

This is a community effort, Virginia City tourism director Susan Sutton said, because it takes a lot of work to coordinate 400 people for two days.

Virginia City has fewer than 100 rooms. Volunteers could stay in Reno, but they must be fed and transported. The cost of doing all this would be expensive, she said.

However, Bommarito said, the result would be worth it.

"The side-effect is that these are people who can help bring business to us," he said. "If they are proud of something they did in Virginia City they can package it up in one of their tours. But their ultimate motivation is to do something good."

Although it's a great opportunity, Storey County needs to figure out if it can support the project, said Pat Whitten, Storey County director of administration and budget.

"We want to make sure we are ready, willing and able to handle it," he said.

Sutton knows how a Tourism Cares for Tomorrow projects can benefit an area. She was part of the Nevada delegation that went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

"It's wonderful exposure," she said. "The people who come on these projects are tour operators and those in the travel industry."

Sutton and her team cleaned a historic cemetery, laid sod and cleaned parts of Biloxi and Pass Christian.

Tourism Cares for Tomorrow, based in Canton, Mass., is the tourism industry's nonprofit organization created by the merging of Travelers Conservation and the National Tourism foundations, according to its Web site. The project focuses on historic cities.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.