Chantal Turgeon
I chose to become a Greeter because I love Sherbrooke. It is such a well-located city, with its living waterways, its beautiful wooded...
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About
The Greeters
Discover the Greeters of Sherbrooke, volunteering citizens who love their city deeply. With them, you will be able to see Sherbrooke in its different aspects: sometimes flamboyant, other times unusual, but always captivating.
The Greeters’ Charter
It is therefore with pleasure that Destination Sherbrooke joins the International Greeter Association network.
This partnership represents a huge window on the world. In 2023, Destination Sherbrooke will be rethinking the Greeters’ offer and working on tours of the different areas to energize and highlight the city and its neighbourhoods.
Background information
Sherbrooke is the first city in Quebec to have its network of Greeters. This concept allows citizens to volunteer their time to accompany visitors for free and make them see Sherbrooke in a new light. The network of Greeters allows the local population to be involved in an innovative form of participatory tourism, by making citizens full-fledged ambassadors of the city.
What Is a Greeter?
Greeters are citizens aged between 18 and 80 who volunteer to accompany visitors passing through their city as they would welcome friends. They offer their time to exchange on their daily lives. They are not guides, but locals who wish to share what inspires them in Sherbrooke through a walk of about 2 hours or for as long as the Greeter and the visitor agree.
Each walk is unique, authentic, free, and of course friendly. The Greeter shows their city according to the visitor’s request, but it must absolutely be done “off the beaten track.” It should, in no case, be a historical guided tour of the city.
The best way to appreciate a city is by meeting one of its inhabitants who knows all the little hidden gems and who wants to share them. It is the human experience and the exchange that are important and which must remain at the root of the experience.
Each Greeter must be motivated, open, sociable, and available at least half a day per month, and, of course, must love human encounters. Speaking a foreign language is not mandatory, but you must be at least 18 years old (nevertheless, minors can accompany a Greeter during their visit).
The Greeters’ Values
All Greeter networks and the Greeters themselves share the same fundamental values:
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