Public Asked to 'Get Out The Vote' by American Express, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Local City Leaders CHICAGO, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- WHAT: CALL FOR COMMUNITY-WIDE VOTES: With just seven days left of community voting for the Partners in Preservation program, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are asking the public to make a last push for their favorite Chicagoland historic site by voting online daily at http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ until October 10, 2007. The historic site with the most public votes is guaranteed to win a portion of the preservation grant money. From a Viking ship in Kane County, the Spring Grove Fish Hatchery in McHenry County, to the Robie House and International Museum of Surgical Science in Cook County -- 25 historic sites are all trying to woo the Chicagoland public to vote for their site and enable them to win a portion of the $1 million Partners in Preservation grant. MEDIA CALL TO ACTION: Help local sites compete for votes. Encourage your audiences to log onto http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ and vote for their favorite historic site and help giveaway $1 million in preservation funding. Some sites needing public support include: ABLA Animal Court Sculptures Homan Square Power House Great Lakes Naval Station Peterson Historic Farmstead Grosse Point Lighthouse International Museum of Surgical Science * For the full list of twenty-five sites please visit http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ Launched in September by American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the program is a community-based historic preservation initiative. American Express is committing $1 million in preservation grants to Chicagoland and is encouraging members of the community to participate in the initiative by casting an online vote daily for their favorite historic site from a slate of 25 sites across five Chicagoland counties. WHEN: Vote online daily through October 10, 2007 WHERE: http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ WHY: The Chicagoland community call-to-action is designed to help preserve historic places that reflect the region's rich and diverse cultural heritage while building community and national pride, spurring economic development, and saving local history. PRESS OPPORTUNITY: -- Encourage community participation in Chicagoland's historic preservation by reminding the public of their voting rights -- Story Ideas: - Host a broadcast news segment from one of the 25 historic sites - Dig deeper into local history with curator and historian interviews - How did a Viking Ship end up in Chicago in 1893? - Von Steuben High School students voting regularly and using Facebook pages to save their school - Why restoring the guest bedroom in the Robie House is crucial to future visitors DATASOURCE: American Express; the National Trust for Historic Preservation CONTACT: Liz Einbinder of Cohn & Wolfe, +1-415-365-8543, or +1-415-577-8255, , for American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Web site: http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/

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