A Florida woman says everybody wants to live in a ‘village,’ where people will be there for them and support them. However, to do that, you have to foster that kind of community. So, she takes things to a whole new level by bringing her community to her front porch.
Posted by Virginia (TikTok/Motherhoodlane), in an effort to get to know her community better, she shows in her TikTok video of her inviting numerous people to her home. Her and her husband had just moved to Golden Oak Disney (yes, that Disney) in Florida. They had put out a sign in their front yard that said, “Hey neighbor!” and invited the neighborhood to breakfast.
They created invitation cards and placed them on the porches of all the local neighbors. Virginia says she’s doing this because she felt at home in her old community but needed to leave it behind. Now, she’s looking to rebuild her “village.” Free breakfast sounds like a swell way to do it, too!
In an update video, Virginia announces free breakfast and coffee for all attendees. She said it was difficult to plan for this because she wasn’t sure if there would be “4 people” or “100” showing up.
As the video progresses, more and more neighbors show up, some bearing gifts, like food. Some even brought their pets. There were tons of neighbors who made the effort to surprise Virginia and her family by simply showing up and being a community.
By the end, Virginia records herself and her happy husband, clearly enjoying how the day turned out for them. She said it was widely “successful.” More importantly, she offers the best advice to her audience: “Just remember that villages do not come knocking at your door. Sometimes, you just have to go ahead and open your door to it.”
People online shared both love and horror
Although the response to Virginia’s really neat idea of fostering a closer community, some people were mortified, both seemingly genuine and performative. “I don’t like people enough for this so I’ll live through you 😂,” one of the top comments reads.
“Wow. You guys really like people. This would be my nightmare,” one person admitted, which garnered nearly 2,000 Likes on TikTok. Several viewers responded, suggesting the commenter needs to “heal” from some unknown trauma, that it wasn’t “normal,“ and that people are actually “meant for interaction” and “community.”
Others shared their successful experiences doing the same. One commenter was “pleasantly surprised” by the number of neighbors in attendance, who also “stayed to chat for hours.”
Virginia says she and her husband have already been invited to other events, such as a workout and a margarita night. What a way to meet new people! Anyone seeing her video could learn a thing or two.
