Daniel and Luke Mancuso turned an unlikely friendship with their kind neighbour into a social enterprise.
The brothers have known ‘Yiayia’, the Greek grandmother next door, for most of their lives. It was Yiayia who called for help when she heard their mother scream the night she was murdered by her ex-husband. And it was Yiayia who kept them fed afterwards, passing home-cooked Greek dishes over the fence.
When Daniel and Luke started the social media channel Yiayia Next Door to celebrate their relationship with Yiayia, they didn’t expect its message of neighbourly love to resonate as strongly as it did.
Today, Yiayia Next Door is an organisation that encourages people to build communities where everyone feels safe, connected and cared for. It advocates for ‘love thy neighbour’ as a powerful antidote to violence.
The brothers also fundraise through the organisation for charities and services that support families experiencing violence.