Meet our CORE Members
We’d like to introduce you to a handful of the 52 friends, volunteers and visitors whose monthly gifts form the very CORE of Big Apple Greeter.
Jerry Rumain
Jerry Rumain is a dedicated Big Apple Greeter since 2012. He gives to Big Apple Greeter monthly "because I want to keep it going and help with its overhead costs." Plus, the match offered for new monthly donors in 2024 was an additional incentive!
Jerry found out about Big Apple Greeter "from the husband of a friend's friend" when he was looking for something to do after his third retirement. Born in Brooklyn, he worked as a psychiatric social worker, an independent psychotherapist, a member of the faculty at The New School, and, after earning his tour guide license, as a guide on the double decker buses that ferry tourists around NYC.
Volunteering for Big Apple Greeter did more for Jerry than just "getting me off those freezing buses." He sees Big Apple Greeter as giving what he calls "NYCAID" to the world. "We promote and protect New York City... debunking NYC stereotypes and showing the world that this is not the city depicted in The Taking of Pelham 123 or Law and Order."
And, according to the glowing reviews from scores of visitors who have taken NYC journeys with Jerry, his "debunking" is delightful!
with your giving like Jerry does to debunk any negative NYC stereotypes the world might see.
Match Your NYC Love
Karen Tenser, a Big Apple Greeter office volunteer extraordinaire! Since 2018 she has been Executive Director Alicia Pierro's Woman Friday. Karen does it all from organizing correspondence to graphic design to baking the incredible goodies enjoyed at Big Apple Greeter's recognition tea parties.
Karen Tenser
While Karen's many talents and abilities have proved essential to the daily operations of our non-profit, she claims that "Big Apple Greeter saved my life." Karen began her career in the textile industry just 10 days after graduating from SUNY Oneonta and played a wide variety of roles over 21 years. But by 2001 the domestic textile industry was all but gone and it was time to move on. Then came 9/11, a difficult day to be setting off on a job search that ultimately landed Karen an Executive Assistant position at H.Stern Jewelers, a world-renowned, Brazilian-based luxury jewelry house. After 16 years of 9+ hour days there, a major restructuring in 2017 set Karen on a new path.
"I was too young to retire but really missed my work family." Casting around for her next act, Karen met Big Apple Greeter in 2018 upon recommendation from the Volunteer Referral Center and was "hired" on the spot. She says she appreciates Big Apple Greeter's "obvious mission to make visitors to NYC feel welcome while giving volunteers a sense of purpose and community."
Karen's administrative work is essential to the day-to-day operations of Big Apple Greeter. Additionally, her aesthetic sense, experience in gracious entertaining, decorating, and can-do attitude have made the physical office a warm and welcoming place to work and visit.
Karen says she joined the Big Apple Core as a monthly donor because "the bigger it is, the more good we can do for New York City. Working on the inside, I see how much organizational energy goes into managing finances. Being able to count on money that comes in every month means a lot. I donate monthly to help keep Big Apple Greeter solvent.”
with your giving like Karen does to help keep Big Apple Greeter solvent.
Match Your NYC Love
Danielle (Dani) LeCompte
Danielle (Dani) LeCompte of Bellevue, Washington considers herself very lucky to have been able to meet Greeters on three different trips to New York City. Dani gives monthly because the Greeters she's met "are so personable and passionate" about the areas they show you..."it just never once felt like I was traveling with a tour guide.”
Since 2016, Dani has served in managerial positions for National Veterinary Associates, progressing from a Hospital Manager to her current role as Senior Manager of Regional Operations. Before that, she was in the nonprofit world, serving Big Brothers Big Sisters and the American Lung Association in Arizona. Those experiences informed her monthly giving because "even volunteer organizations...still have costs and still have a business to run...I just think it's great work that you're doing and I think it should be supported."
with your giving like Dani does to honor the "personable and passionate" Big Apple Greeters she's met on her NYC visits.
Match Your NYC Love
Allen Weingast
Allen Weingast is a former dentist and retired Greeter who started donating monthly to Big Apple Greeter before the Big Apple Core was even formed! When asked about what prompted him to give monthly, Allen admits that "I would probably forget to write a check once a year and now my donation is automatic. It's just comfortable for me this way."
What about our organization underlies his "pioneering" generosity? Here is Allen's Big Apple Greeter experience in his own words:
I had recently retired because I had developed a disabling condition arising from my back. Walking around the city with a guidebook at my side proved to be a tonic for dealing with retirement from my professional career. Then in 1996 or '97 I found out about Big Apple Greeter and how could I not join them? I investigated things to do in retirement and, in addition to Big Apple Greeter, I volunteered at the Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo. I stopped greeting people about 10 years ago because I got more involved with the other two institutions.
But I had great experiences and have great stories from my time as a Big Apple Greeter. My favorite was this incredible day when I took a family from the Midwest around New York. They had a teenaged son who was all about the Yankees and they had tickets to the game that day. When they offered me their extra ticket of course I said yes. (Just as an aside, I grew up right around the stadium. My father was the bartender at the Yankee Tavern and I played Little League where the new Yankee Stadium is.) So we're sitting in the bleachers watching batting practice before the game. Jason Giambi, the Yankee's first baseman, hit a ball into the bleachers that would have been a home run. It bounced on the metal seat in front of me, landed in my hands and I immediately tossed it to that 16 or 17-year-old kid. Let me tell you, I really made his trip. It was a wonderful day!