By Shelby Brooks
Jeanette of Narre Warren, and Dave of Pakenham, were not expecting to fall in love when they turned up to a social breakfast event in 2019, arranged by a mutual friend.
The breakfast club was being run as an event for the social networking service Nextdoor.
Dave and Jeanette started chatting and hit it off.
“We clicked straight away,” Jeanette said.
“We had a lot in common. Before he was retired he owned a construction company, and so did I.
“It was love at first sight.”
Although not a dating app, Nextdoor was set up 12 years ago in America to help combat social isolation and loneliness.
It’s been in Australia for four years for neighbours to share local tips, connect socially and buy and sell items.
“It was a way to get to know people in the community,” Jeanette said of Nextdoor.
“A lot of people stay at home and don’t mingle.”
After the breakfast encounter, Jeanette and Dave started seeing each other.
Jeanette took Dave to her rock and roll classes.
“He could dance but he also learnt a lot,” she said.
Six months later they got engaged and the pair moved in together right before Covid-19 hit in 2020.
Now married and living in Pakenham, the Fenwicks share 10 children and 18 grandchildren between them.
Jeanette credits their love story to their shared sense of humour and ideas of fun.
“We’re like teenage kids,” Jeanette said.
“The laughter never stops.”
One in 11 Melbourne households are using Nextdoor to meet locals, share information, find tradies, sell an outgrown bike, reunite with a lost pet, organise a book or coffee club, find a walking group, and so much more.
Nextdoor recently partnered with Swinburne University for The KIND study which showed connecting with as few as six neighbours helps lower feelings of loneliness, anxiety and depression.
