Are you going to visit/ have you visited New York City?

I'm asking because we did and - thanks to someone who replied to questions we asked here we enjoyed the experience so much more through the offices of the Big Apple Greeters.

They are a voluntary organisation who are passionate to the point of evangelism about New York City, the place where they work as volunteers to greet tourists to their city.

I mention this because they are short of funding - like many voluntary bodies when a recession bites - and also because quite a few of the people making contributions to this site are Americans.

We visited NYC for our 25th Wedding Anniversary, and I had booked ahead with this group to have a Greeter show us around Chinatown, which was the part of New York we chose to visit. A delightful guy called John, a retired fire chief on duty on 9/11, showed us where he had been born and raised. He introduced us to the underground system, and without his help I think we would have been rather nervous about riding it. Oddly enough, thanks to him we felt safer in New York than we do in London.

I'd be keen for others to have a similar sort of experience, but unfortunately this group is due to close down on Sept 22nd unless they can raise funding to keep going.

Now, I know there are many more worthwhile charities out there deserving of money, but this is a charity that helps put money in the pockets of American workers through the tourist industry, and does it without ripping off the tourists; tourists aren't charged for the privilege of meeting lovely people like John (which perhaps we should be), all they ask is that we give them some refreshment as they spend a morning or an afternoon with the people they take round. We took a book about our part of England as a gift for him and asked him to recommend a restaurant where we could all lunch out, and he chose somewhere that was delightful and not at all expensive.

If you've ever been a stranger in a city where you wish you knew a friendly face and didn't, The Big Apple Greeter experience is one you would appreciate as much as we did. Without their help I think we would have been a bit intimidated by the experience; with it we were a heck of a lot more confident and had a great time. It's on the back of that that I am keen that other people have the opportunity to experience the kindness of New Yorkers; if you want to help go to

www.savebigapplegreeter.org.

If you don't, then just forget I said anything! :-))