Nextdoor was created to bring neighbours together — this is important in good times and essential in times of need. Today, we’re launching two features for members in Canada to help them do that now, when it matters most.
In the last couple weeks, we’ve all had that moment when the day’s news hit us at home. For us at Nextdoor Canada, we’ve been awed by the overwhelming offers of support and help to neighbours on our platform. A friendly and kind place on a regular day, we’ve actually seen offers of help to a neighbour increase by a staggering 1,700% in the past two weeks since the crisis hit. Nextdoor is the place where neighbours help neighbours. We also heard from Canadians that it would be great to make it easier for those most vulnerable to see the help available to them, closest to where they live.
With that in mind, we are launching the Help Map, an interactive map of your neighbourhood where you can mark yourself as someone who can pitch in for neighbours who need it. We also have seen Canadians come together to form groups of kindness, so we’re releasing Nextdoor Groups globally to aid the continued organization of local help groups.
With neighbours around the world raising their hands to offer similar support, the Help Map creates a screenshot of your neighbourhood and its resources. Members can add themselves to the map detailing the errands or support they can help elderly and at risk neighbours with. Those who need help can visit the map to see who in their immediate and nearby neighbourhoods is offering help and send a private message.
Asking for and receiving help has been a shining light during tough times. For Nextdoor member Grace, this meant asking for help from her neighbours after being in isolation after returning from international travel. She needed to have a package picked up from the Post Office and some ingredients from the grocery store. So, she put the call out for help on Nextdoor. What happened next was uplifting.
“I received so many calls offering to help, from so many kind people, it was amazing,” she says. A kind neighbour, Mike from up the street, dropped off the items she needed and continues to check in.
Help Groups
Another form of help quickly forming on Nextdoor Canada are Groups. One of the most popular group types right now are those organizing volunteers to help those most in need.
“I set up a group in my neighbourhood to help anyone who needs support during the coronavirus pandemic,” shared Nextdoor member David from Thornhill, Ontario’s Beverly Glen neighbourhood. “The goal of this group is to ensure the elderly, immunocompromised and neighbours in isolation get the supplies they need so they don’t put themselves or others at risk. The group is quickly growing and neighbours are feeling the support of the community.”
It feels important to underline that the new features we’re launching today are inspired by the outpouring of kindness we’ve seen on the platform, across the world, in the light of a global pandemic. As we isolate ourselves at home to protect our health and our neighbours, we still need each other. Nextdoor will be here to help you stay connected to your neighbours, to help, to support, and to make positive change.
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