Australian man finds a way to befriend his neighbors without having to leave his house

(Image credit: Rick Everett via AP)

published 8 October 2020

Rick Everett has spent the last seven months making friends with his neighbors, and he hasn't had to leave his house.

An acrobat, Everett lost his job in March, and decided that he would use his abundance of free time getting to know the people in his Sydney, Australia, neighborhood. He put a sign up outside his kitchen window that said "Free coffee to combat the virus," and offered hot drinks, baked goods, and conversation to anyone who rang the bell. "Think of it as popping over to your mate's for a coffee only it is a friend you have not met yet," Everett told The Associated Press.

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Today, Everett offers more than coffee — he has planted a community herb garden and set up a communal pantry and freezer that is stocked and open to everyone in the neighborhood. Everett told AP these projects don't cost a lot, but "can help in some tiny, little way. If there are hundreds of thousands of these things going on then the world changes. Nobody has to change the world alone. We do it together."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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