NEWS

Leaside joins Facebook

Robyn Hochglaube just wanted to find a cleaning lady. She asked around her new Leaside neighbourhood, and eventually took her search online. That’s when she inadvertently created a community hub.

A Leaside resident for only a few months, Hochglaube started the Leaside Community Facebook page, in early January after discovering, to her surprise, that one did not already exist.

“I’m not going to walk around putting flyers on a lamp pole. So the idea became, here’s a way for anyone who’s living in the area to ask questions and share information that they know.”

The page was up to 365 members after the first month. So far, the social media page has been used for various purposes, including alerting neighbours to a potential door-to-door canvassing scam, allowing the page to work “like a neighbourhood watch,” she said.

While the idea started as a service function, it has changed into a sort-of online meeting place for Leasiders, and Hochglaube says the response has been good.

“It started more as a way to help each other by being connected,” she said. “The community seems to be happy.”

This isn’t a new feat for Hochglaube, who started the same thing in her old neighbourhood of Summit Heights, in the Avenue Road and Hwy. 401 area.

She and husband Kevin Gandy, along with sons Ethan, 11, Cohen, 9 and daughter Ava, 6, moved to Leaside in September. The new neighbourhood made the commute too much for their regular cleaning lady so Hochglaube set out to find a new one.

As for that search, Hochglaube is still looking.

“I have not found one from the Facebook page,” she said with a laugh. “I have had responses to my request but they haven’t panned out.”