For those who love Crown Heights as much as we do, we thought you might be interested in becoming a volunteer greeter with the Big Apple Greeter program:

If you love New York City, enjoy meeting people from around the world and would like to share with visitors a New Yorker’s New York, Big Apple Greeter has just the volunteer opportunity for you!

Many first-time and even repeat visitors to our city are intimidated by its size. Big Apple Greeter volunteers welcome visitors to all five boroughs and show them that “the big city” really can have small town charm.

• Visitors request specific neighborhoods they’d like to see, or leave the neighborhood up to the Greeter.
• A Greeter takes a visitor on an informal, unscripted walk through neighborhoods the Greeter knows well.
• Greeters share personal stories and favorite spots.
• We encourage visitors to experience diverse neighborhoods in all five (5) boroughs.
• Your knowledge of any ethnic areas and off the beaten track neighborhoods is a plus.
• Knowledge of foreign languages or American Sign Language is also helpful.

Visit the website, www.bigapplegreeter.org, for more details.  (We’ve already filled out our application)

It would also be great to see a version of this program that older high school students could participate in.  Could be a powerful way to instill a sense of community pride in the younger generation!

P.S. – Of course, we couldn’t close out this post without highlighting two already popular Crown Heights tours: Crown Heights North House Tour and the Hassidic Walking Tour of Crown Heights.

P. P. S. – As the folks at BAG explained to us, the difference between being a greeter and being a tour guide is that, in contrast to being a tour, greeters have no licensure requirement and do not necessarily cover a fixed, pre-determined route.

P. P. P. S. – If you ever have an urge to tour the neighborhood, but just can’t seem to make it out of the house, we encourage you to check out Brownstoner’s Walkabout with Montrose series, which is an exploration of architecture around Brooklyn, including a number of gems from Crown Heights North.  We’ve shouted out this fantastic series before, but just thought we’d mention it  again.

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