Today, on the International Day of Friendship, we are celebrating all of the new friendships that form everyday between neighbours on Nextdoor.
International Friendship Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly with the idea in mind that ‘friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities’, which is exactly in line with what Nextdoor stands for. We believe that by bringing neighbours together, we can cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighbourhood that they can rely on and so often what we see is neighbours becoming good friends.
Julianne Armstrong in Paradise Point, Queensland is one of the many neighbours who have met new friends thanks to Nextdoor. Julie joined Nextdoor about a year ago, and shortly after joining, took the step of posting into her neighbourhood seeking friendship. She’s been smiling ever since.
Julianne told us that she honestly can’t remember how she first heard about Nextdoor, “I think I came across it Googling community clubs in my area. I originally used Nextdoor to find locals who had little to no social life like myself and who were interested in meeting up for a coffee.”
We asked Julianne to share her story on this International Day of Friendship.
What came next for you once you posted that first time?
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find a group of men and women with diverse interests and talents. Now, we’re a growing thriving and adopting group of people whose diverse cultures, interests and knowledge is shared.
Our group is made up of an eclectic group of personalities ranging from ‘quiet as a mouse’ sweet Sheila, walkers like Cheryl, and an artist like Antoine and sportie Noeleen. Since Christmas, our group has had several men join too, which is great, and a couple of boaties, hairdressers, real estate agents, and accountants just to name a few. We’re from around the world and from here and our interests are as diverse as our personalities which adds to the dynamic – we are a fun loving, happy group of friends.
How has Covid-19 affected you and the community?
Covid-19 has shown me how resilient and creative local communities can be. We may have been physically barred from meeting and mixing together, but we all kept in contact sharing funny stories, offering to go shopping for those quarantined and vulnerable locals and exchanging words of encouragement along with a few funnies to brighten everyone’s day.
Tell me one of your favourite childhood memories?
Guess my favourite one was being able to run around the neighbourhood catching tadpoles, exploring Dobroyd Point (a dangerous and out of bound area of bush), playing at each other’s houses, using our imaginations, and having fun. We could never understand how our parents knew where we were, but neighbours always kept a watchful eye on us.
Your favourite neighbourhood spot?
It has to be a very small local coffee shop in Hansford Rd Coombabah called ‘Charmed Cafe’. They treat everyone like family. It’s lovely walking in there and finding the same faces time and time again enjoying coffee or lunch. The food is beautiful. Everything is homemade and nothing is too much trouble.
———–
I really enjoy the blogs.