Love Your Neighbor: 5 Heartwarming Stories

Five Heartwarming Stories Reminding You to Love Your Neighbor

Never lose sight on the importance of loving those around you even during times of chaos. While it is always important you yourself are secure, sending a little love to your neighbor goes a long way. It is easier—and better—to get through things together than separated.

Here are five stories we gathered of people giving their neighbors some joy and kindness.

1) Man Posts Daily Dad Joke On Front Lawn

With Maryland’s stay-at-home order, Tom Schruben found himself with a lot of time on his hands. As a cheerful father who loves to crack dad jokes and puns, he decided he wanted to make the best of the COVID-19 situation by spreading a little cheer around his neighborhood.

Schruben had heard from his wife, Ann, about a person in Ohio posting daily jokes in front of their house. Ann told him he should do the same; he eventually agreed.

Now every day, Schruben grabs a whiteboard with the words “BAD DAD JOKES” scribbled on top to write down his daily joke. He then puts the board near the footpath in front of his house for everyone walking by to see and chuckle at.

Here are a few jokes he’s done over the past few weeks:

“Without geometry, life is pointless.”

“What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.”

“What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.”

“I ordered a chicken and an egg from Amazon. I’ll let you know.”

Read more about the story.

2) Neighbors Paying It Forward With $5 Meals

One café, Stevie’s Back Road, in Massachusetts has been offering people the chance to give a little love to their neighbors.

When COVID-19 hit, owner Stevie Dembro found his business disappeared overnight. He had an excess amount of food left in his freezer, so he chose to make the best out of a tight situation: a new program called “Feed Your Neighbor” where people could pay $5 to order a meal for themselves or for others.

“I come from the inner-city projects. I know what it is like to not have a meal. I know what it’s like to not eat,” Dembro explained. “To have something like this happen… this is a tough situation for everybody.”

Six weeks later after his idea, Dembro’s café now has a whole wall with over 100 donated meal tickets at any time for people to walk in and grab for free dinner. People often walk in and buy multiple meals for others to use later; one anonymous donor even gave $500 in the first few weeks.

Dembro has been overwhelmed with the support, but very thankful. He has recently hired more people to help with donations as a good chunk of the meals are now going to shelters, churches, and neighbors in need.

“There’s a lot of proud people out there, people who don’t want to say that they’re struggling. The best thing you can do for them is to be a friend and call me up.”

Read more about the story.

3) Owner Use Dog to Deliver Groceries to Elderly Neighbor

Every day a dog named Sundance delivers groceries to a nearby elderly neighbor, Renee. His owner, Karen, wanted Sundance to help other people as much as he helps her and found the perfect way during quarantine.

Renee has multiple medical conditions and is a prime suspect for COVID-19. Karen was looking for ways to help him with minimal contact when she realized she could use Sundance as a middleman between her and her neighbor.

Karen has since trained Sundance to go and fetch Renee’s grocery list and bring it back to her. Once she finishes buying the groceries, she has Sundance carry the wiped down bags to Renee’s front door. Renee is especially grateful for their help, and loves watching Sundance make the back and forth trips.

Read more about the story.

4) Mother Creates Sidewalk Chalk Art

Montenegro is known by her neighbors for her use of sidewalk chalk, and she has been using her driveway to spread a little joy and happiness to everyone who walks by.

“Just give me chalk and I’ll be happy,” she said to her local news station.

During the past few weeks, Montenegro has taken her art projects to the next level by creating full blown murals during the quarantine. She’s done elaborate art about Winnie the Pooh, The Lion King, and characters from the movie Trolls.

Montenegro only hopes her chalk art can bring a little happiness, and it seems to be working as people often stop-by to watch her work.

Read more about the story.

5) Woman Leaves Kindness Postcards In Mailboxes

A woman from the county of Cornwall in the U.K. has created a kindness postcard people can print out and send to their neighbors while everyone self-isolates. It is a simple way for neighbors to reach out for help and for everyone to connect.

“I’ve been feeling pretty helpless watching the news. Maybe you have too?” the woman, Becky Wass, wrote on her Facebook about the postcard. “I wanted to do something about it, so I’ve made a postcard that I’ll be posting to my older neighbours as this progresses (after washing my hands!).”

‘Hello! If you are self-isolating, I can help,’ the top of the card reads. Underneath is an area where people can fill in contact information like their phone number. It then lists what someone can help with whether it be for pick-up shopping, posting mail, urgent supplies, and/or a friendly phone call.

“If just one person feels less lonely or isolated when faced with this pandemic, then I’ll feel better about it (I hope!) Coronavirus is scary. Let’s make kindness go viral. Feel free to share/print/use.”

Check out the postcard below!

Read more about the story or watch 5 Inspiring Videos During COVID-19 Outbreak.