Where Genealogy and Spirit Connect, July 21, 2009
On, Where Genealogy and Spirit Connect
on BBS Radio
With Host Susan E. King
Ellis Island Foundation
Peg and Susan will discuss the launch of its new American Flag of Faces. This interactive website invites all Americans to submit photos of their families, their ancestors, even themselves to become a part of this living, ever-changing American mosaic. In addition we will discuss American Family Immigration History Center® and its website, launched in April 2001. The Center provides easy access to the immigration information on the 25 million people who entered through the Port of New York between 1892-1924, including reproductions of over 3.5 million ships passenger manifest pages as well as images of over 900 ships of passage. 40% of Americans today trace their roots back to individuals whose arrival records are included in this database. Since its launch, the Center has served nearly a million visitors and the website has received over 12 billion hits.
Peg Zitko is a public relations/marketing communications professional with over 20 years of nonprofit and executive outreach experience. Her expertise includes strategic planning to support fundraising and traffic-building campaigns, national consumer publicity programs, executive thought-leadership, special events and crisis management.
Peg serves as Vice President of Public Affairs for The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc., the most successful public/private partnership in American history. The Foundation has raised over $550 million from the private sector to restoreAmerica's two greatest monuments to freedom and build the largest immigration museum in the world.
For the Foundation Peg developed and directed a national media campaign to raise public awareness of the Ellis Island restoration, and to promote theEllis IslandImmigrationMuseum, The American Immigrant Wall of Honor and the launch of the Foundations groundbreaking family history research website. These campaigns generated extensive national media coverage from all the major television networks, and scores of consumer and business magazines and newspapers.
Peg's duties at the Foundation also included working closely with the President/CEO in developing official policy statements, acting as primary spokesperson, and handling sensitive public relations for the Foundations Founding Chairman, Lee Iacocca. She also worked directly with The White House, Department of the Interior, National Park Service and other government agencies and private organizations, managing special events atEllis Island.
Peg has consulted for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, theNationalCenter for the American Revolution, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, the Battle of Normandy Foundation and the Foundation for theUniversity ofMedicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) developing sponsorship marketing opportunities and creating public relations/media outreach plans to support their major fundraising projects.
Peg received both Masters of Science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mass Communications from Southern Illinois University. She has served as an adjunct instructor in that field.
Where Genealogy and Spirit Connect
Susan is a Genealogy columnist with The Examiner. As the Genealogy Examiner, Susans column covers cover the gamut of genealogical topics with a rare twist. Through this column Susan will be building a deeper understanding of the spiritual journey of finding our ancestors and finding ourselves. Through a deeper understanding of our history and the history of others will we be.
We live in both very exciting times and very troubling times. But we live in a time where we really do have an opportunity to change; change how we think and feel about ourselves; change how we think and feel about others. We have an opportunity to teach the next generations the importance of preservation, the importance of respect, and the importance of tolerance. There is no better modality than through the study and sharing of our genealogies, our research and through our feelings.
In this light, Susan has launched a new social network, Susaneking.com, the place Where genealogy and spirit connect. This site is designed to assist others to embark on their own personal journey tofind your family, find yourself. Susan will be providing start-up consulting, ongoing monitoring and collaborative services as requested and special services.
