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July 18, 2025 12 mins

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What makes a community truly special? In this heartwarming conversation with Danielle, founder of the influential Vero Beach Neighborhood® group, we discuss the magic that sets Vero Beach apart from other coastal towns.

Danielle paints a vivid picture of Vero as "stepping back in time," a place where mom-and-pop businesses still thrive alongside chains, creating an ecosystem of local commerce and genuine connection. With over 74,000 members in her online community, she's witnessed countless examples of neighbors helping neighbors, from an elderly resident with a broken AC unit receiving immediate assistance to community members rallying around families in need.

The conversation dives into the delicate balance of preserving "Old Florida" charm while welcoming newcomers who are drawn to Vero's unique character. As Danielle wisely notes, inclusion rather than exclusion is the key to maintaining what makes the area special. "The world's largest Mayberry" requires both preservation and growth to maintain its special essence.

We explore the importance of supporting local businesses, giving grace before leaving reviews, and how making an effort to try different establishments enriches the community experience. Danielle's perspective on building community both online and in person offers valuable insights for anyone seeking to strengthen the fabric of where they live.

Her faith-driven approach to running VBN reveals the heart behind this digital town square that has become a trusted information source and connection point for residents. Her commitment to truth and community service over metrics or growth demonstrates why the group has become such a vital part of Vero Beach life and the neighbors that live here.

What would your community look like if neighbors truly looked out for each other? Listen in and be inspired to cultivate connection wherever you call home.

Presented by Killer Bee Marketing
Helping local businesses in Vero Beach connect with their neighbors.

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Be sure to connect with us on Instagram at @myverobeachdotcom

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, Well, welcome back to the Vero Beach
Podcast.
We are here with Danielle andduring this part part three
we're going to talk about whyVero and what do you love most
about Vero.
So, Danielle, I'm just going tohand it right over to you what
do you love most about living inVero?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Beach.
What's not to love about Vero?
I guess it's the only rightanswer, right?
I really think that it's almostlike stepping back in time a
little bit.
You know, on how you look at it, there's a lot of places that
were small town, had a lot ofsmall mom and pop businesses and
just don't really have thatanymore.
But somehow Indian River Countyhas preserved a lot of that.

(00:33):
And so, listen, I love a goodchain restaurant, don't get me
wrong and there's a lot oflocals who either own those
chains or locals who work atthose chains, so we support them
as well.
But to have the concentration ofmom and pop stores is really
incredible, and to have thesupport for those stores as well
is incredible.
So that's probably my favoritething.
A close second would be howpeople always will lend a

(00:53):
helping hand and the majority ofpeople are safe really to be
around, like I'll come help youand you won't get stuck in a
white van that says candy on it.
You will be in good hands andpeople really do help, and I've
even seen it with Vero BeachNeighborhood of people say you
know, we make sure we vet thepeople who need help, and then I
put up an anonymous post andI'm like listen, we need to help
for X, y and Z reasons, and theoutpouring of support is

(01:15):
incredible and I'm always veryimpressed by the community and
they're very selfless in howthey give and want to help, so
that's probably my favoritething.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
That's something I wanted to talk to you about.
I'm glad you brought it up that.
I've noticed several posts.
One specifically that reallytouched my heart was a woman and
she said I'm elderly, I am on afixed income, there's something
wrong with my air conditioner,and like right away, just answer
after answer after answer, andit was a air conditioning
company that went out thereright then and fixed it and I

(01:46):
just was like that is special.
I've never seen that happen.
We've lived in a handful ofcities, smaller always, but I've
just never seen that happenbefore.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Nothing like Vero.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, it is very, very special and that's why it's
super important to me, not onlyto preserve what Vero has
always been.
But you know, a lot of peopleare like get out of here new
people or get out of heresnowbirds.
I'm like this is like thedumbest thing you could possibly
do, because what's going tohappen is people are super
excited to move here.
If you are rude to them or youdon't welcome them, just they're
sponges.
They're ready to say like, howdoes it work down here?

(02:28):
We love it, we're going to livethere.
And if you're always rude tothem, they're going to be like
you know what, forget that andthey're going to do whatever
they want to do.
And what you're doing is youthen are manifesting, you're
chipping away at the fabric thatyou're so desperately trying to
hang on to, and so that's whereone of the keeping Vero exactly
how it is, with appropriategenesis, right, but then
including people welcomingpeople, saying, hey, welcome.
This is how we do things.
It's a lot of fun, we supporteach other, and they go this is
great.
And then they do that too, butif they continue up, they're not

(02:50):
getting the building undercontrol.
So it's not something you cannot.
You're going to have to facewhat's happening, right, and so
how do you preserve then greatold-fashioned Vero with all of
these new people who have noidea what it was either ever
like so?

Speaker 1 (03:04):
do you know Ray from Indian Distillery?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
I do.
They're great.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, he has a wonderful and yeah, I think he
said it best in the episode withhim.
He said that this is theworld's largest Mayberry and we
learned so much about thehistory of Indian River County
that we had no clue about.
And that's the beautiful thingis to be able to.
How do you preserve that andhand it down to new people that
do move in, Because new peopleare going to move in and do they

(03:28):
call it like old Florida?
Is that kind of like the Iwould say so.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
I know like we've visited some places before, but
Vero even still is still evenmore niche than just old Florida
.
It really is.
You can use that yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
And to see so many local businesses.
I was blown away by how many,Though we've been coming here
since 2014.
Yeah, At that time we thoughtdowntown Vero was down beachside
.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Beachside.
Yeah, we thought that wasdowntown.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then we found out I think it was in 2022, there
was a Vero Beach downtown whereI guess close to where we are
right now, and I'm like, wait aminute, how many downtowns are
there?
I just don't understand enoughabout the community, but we're
learning more about it and it isso unique, so unique, and the
support is like you said, shauna, it's very welcoming.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
So, Danielle, what are some as we're?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
learning more about this area.
Do you have any hidden gems orbusinesses, or local?
Well, you've already told usabout local events, but any
businesses or gyms that youwould like to share with us, oh
my gosh.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think it would be weird, as the VBN lady, to sound
like I was singling any onecompany, but I will say this
there are, regardless of whatlane you're in, what niche, what
activity, what food you like,there are a ton of super
reputable local businesses.
So for pizza, you have yourpick really of really great,

(04:46):
great pizza places.
And there's a bunch of new onesthat just opened one on 14th
Avenue, one on Old Dixie,there's like legacy pizza places
off 27th, like there's a bunchof different places that you
know people can go.
And so I always tell peoplethat you should make a list.
So you're always welcome tocome to VBN and make the new
post.
We encourage that because thenit gives people a chance.
Like you can ask for pizza asmany times as you want, you can

(05:07):
ask for air conditioning as manytimes as you want, because then
everyone's like here's thecompany we would recommend.
And then it's this constantrepetitive behavior of listing
these people's business names,behavior of listing these
people's business names, whichis great for them, right?
So we love that.
But I always say tell people tomake a list.
So if you want pizza, just godown the list of all the pizza.

(05:27):
Try them all.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Try them all, you will have your favorite, but
then you have your backupfavorites and you're here, we
have company, we want these andwe want that, and so once closed
you're so right, cause I'vealready got pizza places I love,
already got backup pizza places.
And then there's, I keep seeingmore pizza places.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, you got to try them all.
Yeah, I mean, you can't reallydo that necessarily with, like,
air conditioning companies orcontractors unless you have a
problem with one, or they go,you know whatever it is.
But I have actually dabbled in acouple of different of the
larger contractors and reallythe majority of them are
fantastic human beings and youwant to support them because
they're just really kind, theyexplain anything, no one's

(06:01):
tricking you into anything, andas many businesses as possible
that you can support is alwaysmy advice.
Don't wait until somethingcloses and then be like, oh gosh
, I love that place.
Well, if you love that place,you got to go spend money at
that place, because if you don't, that's how they stay open.
So even if you're like, what'smy $5 doing, your $5 could make
or break that person's total forthe day.
So, whatever it is and themajority of the stores the VBN

(06:24):
Beach Shop and Gifts includedhas a variety of stuff and a
variety of price points, and soeven Beachside variety of price
points.
So go support somebody,something somewhere, all the
time.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
I would also encourage people like even your
Google reviews don't be so loosewith those Like those matter so
much when it comes tobusinesses as well, you know, I
know our son.
He's not over there.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
I looked over and Shauna looked How's like how did
he get over?
There.
How did he get in there?
This place is closed right now.
He tapped me too, and I waslike what you know.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
you go into a place and the service isn't great, and
you know, I know.
He came out one time he said,yeah, he's like, the service
there wasn't that great.
And I just said, you know,always remember that's an
employee probably first off andyou probably first off, and you
never know what their day's likeright now, what they're going
through.
So give them some grace, don'tjust make a decision at one time
.
Go back and-.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
Food especially, is really subjective.
I always tell people give aplace at least two times for
food and it's okay for you to belike you know what.
That place is not really for me.
Whatever that business is,that's okay.
It doesn't have to ruin yourday.
You don't have to like want tokill their family, like you can.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
You can just say that's not my favorite burger
place.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
You know like you get to say that.
Um, as long as you're notshredding people on the internet
for no reason like you notliking it does not equal they're
terrible people.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, it's wild, exactly.
Yeah, as we get ready to wrapup, what kind of impact have you
seen the group has had on localbusinesses or the neighbors in
this area?

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I I would say there's two things that come to mind
immediately.
One is community engagement,which is, I think, the fabric of
the community.
Vbn really has become part ofthe fabric of Vera Beach and I'm
incredibly proud of that, and Ilove to see people jumping in
on like we talked aboutpreviously the inside jokes or
helping each other.
That, I think, is not only goodfor the health of VBN, but it's

(08:14):
paramount to the health of thecommunity that you live in.
So I love that.
And the second thing is what apowerhouse VBN has been, and
it's not only the water cooler,but people know when they're
reading something on VBNespecially if I post it or Mike
posted that it is 100% the truth.
That is what's happening.
You don't have to like it, butthey know that it's true, and so
that, to me, has also beenincredibly impactful.

(08:35):
There's really nothing elselike it, and I don't take that
lightly and I feel like it's avery high level of
responsibility that I've beengiven and I don't take it for
granted.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
So what's your hope for the future of the Vero Beach
neighborhood?
It's the last question I gotfor you, oh all right.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Well gosh, we're almost at 10 years.
We're like eight, eight and ahalf years, which is insanity.
So just that it keeps going.
Some people ask how big do youwant the page to get?
Like, they focus on numbers andmetrics.
I absolutely keep track ofnumbers and metrics, but I don't
hang my hat completely on that74,000,.

(09:12):
This is it.
I'm happy with what he'sblessed me with.
If he's like, no, there's moreimpact to make and we're going
to grow this bigger, then that'swhat we're going to do, and so
it's whatever it is.
When I first started the page Isound crazy to some people,
that's okay I absolutelydedicated the page to God.
I was like you have got to,because as soon as I started
seeing the pickup, I was likethis is going to be something.
Like I just kind of knew it wasgoing to.

(09:33):
I didn't know what it was, butit was going to be something.
And so I just dedicated to himand I pray for wisdom all the
time, Like please give me thewisdom I need to do what it is
that you want me to do with thisgroup, and so that's really,
really important to me.
So it's however he directs andwhatever that kind of looks like
, and so I am a human, I can befall.

(09:57):
I think that God uses differentpeople in different places, you
know, in their life, and I justhope for VBN that it is the
impact that I believe that it is, that it is, it continues to be
, you know, the place thatpeople go for information and
that it really meets peoplewhere they're at, and that my
most biggest prayer I guess youwould call it is that people do

(10:18):
see Jesus, Like they don'tfilter.
You know, a lot of times peoplefilter through what I call
their hate lens, you know, andthey're like, oh, but you're a
Christian and you do that.
I'm like, well, I didn't dothat, but I guess I'm also a
Christian, so I hate to see that.
But at the end of the day Ireally hope that just they see
Jesus, they meet him in a realway, and so that for any of my
business models After that it'sjust a lot of work and

(10:40):
connections but yeah, that'salways my primary.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Well, Danielle, thank you so much for giving us some
of your time to come and shareyour story and let us get to
know you and the heart behindthe Vero Beach neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Absolutely.
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, yeah, We've loved having you Well with that
anybody, well, not anybody,Everybody.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Everybody, yes, Everybody.
Well, with that everybody.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
if you've enjoyed the podcast which I'm sure you have
, if you're still listening,make sure you click follow,
leave us a review.
That helps others find thepodcast and if you have any
questions, click that link inthe show notes that say text us.
You can text us any questionsor any shout outs and you might
hear us talk about it on thenext episode.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Thanks for listening, neighbor.
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