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'Ordinary' video of a neighborhood street Sunday has people raving about America at its best

"It takes a village. This is wonderful."

Image via Canva

Neighborhood spends a Sunday evening together gathered and creating community.

Growing up in a connected neighborhood can, arguably, create the best childhood. Core memories and a sense of community are created through neighborhood kids riding bikes, playing games in the cul-de-sac, spending time together in backyards, and having porch chats with parents. These days, neighborhoods like that are becoming a rarity.

But TikTokers The Butan Fam (@thebutanfam), a family of 5 living in Southern Florida, shared a sentimental video of their neighborhood getting together on a Sunday to have dinner together on their street. Its wholesome, "gold old days" vibe has viewers reminiscing about their childhood neighborhoods.

"POV: You won the neighborhood lottery. This is just a random Sunday on our street," she captioned the video. Set to "The Sound of Peace" by Damluhe, the camera pans to her street at dusk, revealing an idyllic scene of community.

@thebutanfam

We decided to have dinner together. #Neighborhood #bestneighbors #lifeinthesuburbs #SuburbanLiving

In the caption, she wrote, "We decided to have dinner together." The entire neighborhood came out to spend time together on a lovely Sunday night. Dads and moms are gathered together in a group talking, while one dad and his kids are shooting hoops. The camera pans to a group of kids sitting on the sidewalk together painting on canvases.

Essentially, everything seems right in the world. Families are together and socializing with their neighbors in a safe setting, and viewers are loving how connected and present everyone is.

@thebutanfam

Stay at home mom Chronicles! #lifeonarandomtuesday life on a random Wednesday. #Life. #StayAtHomeMom.

One viewer commented, "You got that 2003 type neighborhood."

Another added, "Now THIS is COMMUNITY. The America we all want."

Another wrote, "I grew up in a neighborhood like this. Kids all hung out, parents got a long, one of the best times of my life."

In another comment, a viewer added, "You guys are RICH rich. Community is amazing 😭", and The Butan Fam replied, "Yes we are! The things money can’t buy!"

One person noted that with so many envious people, the same sense of community can be found if you initiate it. "For everyone watching this wishing it could be you… you could be the first villager. The first to host a barbecue. The first to put the basketball net in the street. We need to be individually responsible for creating community," they wrote.

Kids playing, neighborhood, community, village, neighbors Happy Music Video GIF by Chrissy MetzGiphy

Others noted, ""It takes a village. This is wonderful." Another recalled how they miss this sense of community that they had in their childhood. "This reminds me of growing up in the 80s. I felt so free to go outside and just enjoy the day. Now in my 50s I don't really go out like that anymore. It feels like people are much more guarded and definitely less friendly. I miss the simpler days," one wrote.

In an Instagram response post, The Butan Fam shared, "Never in a million years did I think my last video would go mega viral (14 million views on TikTok 😱). I was just soaking in the moment in my neighborhood and decided to share it with you all. Thank you so much for the love," they wrote. "No, it’s not AI and no, I won’t be sharing my exact location. I have to keep myself safe lol. But I do want to say this. Florida is an incredible state. I’ve lived all over South Florida. I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale and have lived in so many different cities across the state, including just 30 minutes from Orlando."

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How Nextdoor neighbors are helping each other get through the pandemic

All photos via Nextdoor
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Life during the coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for everyone, both the sick and the healthy. But despite the hardships people are facing on a daily basis, many have also performed incredible acts of kindness for those in need.

When it became clear there was a shortage of masks and other personal protective gear for health care workers on the frontlines, people all over the world cracked open their sewing kits and got to work. Even though they were closed to patrons and losing money, a number of New York City restaurants collaborated to help feed the city's hospital teams. The fact that we're all going through this together seems to be resonating with people in a significant way, and sparking an unprecedented trend of good will. That's especially apparent on apps like Nextdoor.

Being kind to others has an uncanny way of making the giver feel better, too. In fact, the more random and unexpected your acts of kindness are, the more they'll trigger pleasure in your brain.

And if you start doing them in and around your community, chances are you'll create new bonds with your neighbors that will help make everyone stronger at the end of this pandemic experience. Even if you don't currently know your neighbors, it's surprisingly easy to reach out and offer assistance. Just take it from these folks:


Octogenarian Block Party

Maddy Silverman's 80th birthday was coming up, and even though she loves to get down, due to coronavirus and quarantine restrictions, it didn't look like a traditional party was in the cards for her. But that didn't stop her party spirit. She decided to reach out on Nextdoor and see if any local DJs would be willing to host a socially distanced block party for her neighbors and herself. Not only did one respond and offer to play the party for free, many of her neighbors showed up wearing masks to party with her safely and responsibly.

"I'm a young 80, a very young 80," Silverman told Spectrum News 1.


Stimulus Check

Austin, Texas native, Andrew May, realized that he could use his stimulus check to help someone in his neighborhood who was struggling. So he offered it to anyone "in need" on Nextdoor, and almost immediately received tons of positive responses. A few individuals who could benefit from his generosity were also suggested to him. Eventually he decided to give money to two families he met via the app. One is a single mom of three kids who's been unable to pay rent for the last two months. The other is a husband and wife whose 16-year-old daughter reached out to him. The couple weren't able to receive stimulus checks because they only recently became American citizens. Both husband and wife had been out of work due to the virus.

But Andrew didn't stop there. He and a few other neighbors he met on Nextdoor are now working on helping a family living in an RV who has a son with special needs.


Gen Z Deliveries

17-year-old Danny Goldberg's father is an ER physician, so Danny realized how impactful the pandemic would be early on. He knew that keeping away from other people during the pandemic would become a priority, but not everyone would be able to do so. One particular thing he quickly saw becoming an issue was elderly and immunocompromised individuals' access to the essentials. "The elderly and immunocompromised should be sheltering in place, and if they can't get food deliveries, they would eventually need to go to the store, which is too big of a risk," Danny told Forbes.

So he created Zoomers to Boomers (ZTB) — a volunteer group of Gen Z neighbors who deliver groceries and other essentials to their Baby Boomer and immunocompromised neighbors for free. Danny set up the flagship website, posted about it on Nextdoor, and orders took off from there. Many of ZTB's core management team are high school friends of Danny's, but once word got around, and sites like Upworthy reported on it, the group expanded exponentially. There are now Zoomers to Boomers groups in cities all over the world.


Rollerskating Shark and Taco

Laughter is often the best medicine, especially when everything starts to feel overwhelmingly scary and depressing. That was Colene Robinson's notion when she decided to dress up in a shark costume and roller skate around Boulder, Colorado. She posted on Nextdoor that she'd happily visit any street in her city to bring a little hilarity and joy to her neighbors. Not only did she receive lots of grateful requests, a retired roller derby skater offered to join her on her cheer up mission dressed as a giant taco.

The rollerskating shark and taco team visited over 50 families in one weekend. They danced to the "Baby Shark" song, delivered handmade signs for big events like birthdays, and successfully lightened the mood wherever they went. This video pretty much says it all.


Heartwarming Posts

San Franciscan Nick Munro was at home looking for things to do, like so many of his neighbors, when he realized he had a ton of post-it notes lying around. So one day, he decided to stick them up on his window in the shape of a heart as a little message of support and solidarity for his neighbors during this challenging time. The gesture was quickly noted by locals, and pretty soon, Munro started to see more and more post-it hearts popping up on windows around town.

"These are the things we never would have seen without this coming together," Munro told NBC Bay-Area. He hopes the trend will continue long after the pandemic subsides.

These are just a handful of the incredible, selfless things people have done for their neighbors during this crisis. Contributions like this will also help strengthen communities as we move out of lockdown and into post-pandemic life.

You can check out many more #strengthinneighbors stories @Nextdoor on Instagram. Their page also has information on how you can win a $500 gift card to support your favorite neighborhood spot. Being kind to others is a super power that every single one of us can access to help bring the world back together. So what are you waiting for?

Heroes

When these teens took on Baltimore over a garbage idea, the city actually listened.

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Starbucks Upstanders

What do you do with your free time? 17-year-old Destiny Watford spends hers saving her neighborhood.

Destiny lives in Baltimore, a city where more people die from air pollution than homicide — and the homicide rate is nothing to scoff at.

This isn’t an exaggeration; it’s a reality. And the people who live there deal with it every day.

Why is the air pollution so bad? Well, Curtis Bay — a neighborhood in Baltimore — is home to a coal export terminal, the nation’s largest medical waste facility, and an animal rendering plant, to name a few reasons.

All images via Starbucks, used with permission.

In 2012, Destiny learned about a plan to build the country’s largest trash-burning incinerator in Curtis Bay just a mile from her school.

Destiny looked around at her neighborhood, polluted by factory after factory, and decided she’d had enough.

Watch Destiny's full story:

These students banded together and stopped what would have been the nation's largest trash incinerator from being built just a mile away from their school. A Starbucks original series.

Posted by Upworthy on Friday, September 23, 2016

You may wonder, how could the country so completely disregard the health of these residents?

There's a reason Curtis Bay and communities like it are often the proposed sites for these types of facilities (ahem, environmental racism). A study published in Environmental Research Letters revealed that factories using toxic substances and waste plants are usually found in poor neighborhoods — and those neighborhoods are often predominantly made up of people of color.

The phenomenon is nothing new. History has shown time and time again that poor neighborhoods are often used as dumping grounds. See the Flint water crisis.

The communities being affected often don’t have a voice to fight against this injustice. That’s why Destiny is so special.

Determined to stop the incinerator from invading their neighborhood, Destiny and her classmates started a movement.

"Curtis Bay is my home," explained Destiny. "I grew up here. I live here. My family lives here. My friends live here. If a development like this is happening that would be putting our lives at risk, I couldn't ignore it."

She and her peers started Free Your Voice, an organization aimed at stopping the development of the incinerator.

They found out that the Baltimore City Public School System would be purchasing energy from the incinerator and challenged that decision. They won — the school board changed its decision and backed out of the contract. 21 other businesses followed suit.

Then, something even bigger happened.

"We learned that the incinerator’s permit had expired," Destiny said. "This was a huge opportunity for us because with an expired permit, you can’t construct. But it would not matter unless the Maryland Department of the Environment said publicly, 'Your permits are expired.' Which they hadn’t."

Free Your Voice organized protests, with people standing outside late into the night, urging the department to enforce the law and stop the incinerator.

It took months, but eventually the state did declare that the permit was expired, effectively halting all operations.

The community united, and their unified, persistent voice was loud enough to be heard.

Thanks to Destiny and her peers, the future of Curtis Bay — and its air — is clearer.

And Destiny led the charge. Her passion for her community inspired positive change. If more communities follow suit, hopefully together, they can force the tide to change.  

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