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neighbors

Joy

Family's 98-yr-old neighbor brought over a cake and it launched a celebration of community

"This is how I thought adulthood would be as a child."

Kelly McDuff/TikTok (used with permission)

It all started with Kelly McDuff's neighbor bringing her family a chocolate cake.

We all want to live in a community where people are kind, friendly, helpful and welcoming. But sadly, many of us don't even know our neighbors at all much less feel that supportive sense of community where we live.

Perhaps that's why Kelly McDuff's exchanges with her elderly neighbor in her new neighborhood are giving people hope.

McDuff shared a video with the text, "We just moved into a house and my 98-year-old neighbor just dropped off a cake to welcome us to the neighborhood." In the video, McDuff grins and then shows the man crossing the street through her window, adding "He's lived here for 52 years and 'hopes we love it as much as he has.'" The 11-second video has been been viewed over 15 million times on TikTok.

But that's not even the whole story.

McDuff decided to reciprocate and bake the gentleman a lemon pie, excited to get to know him better. She encouraged everyone who liked the original video and thought it was cool to go and meet their neighbors—"go knock on their door and bake them some cookies, everybody likes cookies." She added that she wasn't sure what prompted her to make lemon pie, but she hoped he liked it.

Then she shared how he reacted when she took the pie to his house.

"Bless you, sweetheart! I love lemon pie," he said. "You didn't have to do that, but I'm just delighted you did."

McDuff wisely brought her neighbor a piece of paper with her family's names and numbers on it—just in case—and so began the building of a community everyone yearns for. As one person in the comments put it, "This is how I thought adulthood would be as a child."

The videos prompted other people to share their own celebration of community-building in the comments, and it's a hopeful reminder that sometimes it's as simple as taking the first step to reach out.

"We (early 30’s) moved to New Zealand, and quickly learned our 80 year old neighbour had just lost his wife to cancer. We made him banana muffins and dropped them off on his doorstep, which started a beautiful friendship. Countless dinners, laughs, and solving the world’s problems over good cheese, chocolate and wine. He became (and still is) one of our closest friends. We’ve moved back to Canada now, and we still FaceTime with him regularly… apart, but still sharing laughs and solving the world’s problems over good cheese, chocolate, and wine. ❤️"

"We had a very similar experience. We moved into our home and our 80+ year old neighbor brought over a homemade apple pie to welcome us to the neighborhood. She said they raised their 2 boys and twin grandsons in their house and were excited to see our 2 mos old son. We’ve been close ever since. It’s been 17 years. 🥹"

"A few years ago we lived next to a sweet old guy named Gus. He came over to introduce himself when we moved in and after that would come over to chat once in a while. We discovered in our conversations he was a Saxophonist and had played all the clubs in Vegas, even playing with Sinatra and hanging out with the rat pack for a little while! He said this as calmly as you please. He referred to Sinatra as old Franky and Dean Martin as Deano. You would never know this mild mannered, sweet guy had lived a wild life! He passed away suddenly from pneumonia but I still think about Gus and am thankful for his friendship."

"Love this!!! As a kid, my 70+ year old neighbor would sit on her porch with her brother and dog. I would go sit with them sometimes, go to the store for her and just relax. I eventually asked her to be my God mother and she agreed. She died when I was in the 7th grade but the love she poured in me never left my soul. Thanks for everything ❤️Ms. Bea."

"So I'm a neighbor wrangler. Every neighborhood I've lived in I've been the person to introduce myself and invite them over for a drink or if we're having an event, invite them too. I love it because neighbors who've never spoken or just did the garbage-day wave, suddenly start helping each other and become a community. Being a good neighbor is so underestimated."

"My mom bakes banana bread and has my dad deliver it every time someone new moves to the neighborhood. They’re almost 80. Very sweet. 🥧"

"This has inspired me to go knock on my 90 year old neighbors door."

Imagine if we all reached out to our neighbors, new or established, young or old, with such warm and thoughtful gestures of goodwill. Bringing someone cake or pie or cookies certainly won't solve all of humanity's problems, but it does start to build bonds and create connected communities where everyone feels welcome and valued.

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Joy

Couple's elderly neighbors couldn't attend their wedding, so they 'married' them at home

The two women held the sweetest, most hilarious "wedding" for Dave and Elena in their apartment.

@elenawonders/Instagram

Terri and Jean threw a private "wedding" for Elena and Dave.

When Elena and Dave moved into their apartment in northern Manhattan in January of 2023, they had no idea their new neighbor would be the one to officiate their wedding—sort of.

Terri, the neighbor, introduced herself to the Dave and Elena right away, and they immediately thought she was a character.

"We started visiting her and the older woman, Jean, she takes care of and lives with—they love our dog," Elena tells Upworthy. "Dave would sometimes cook them dinner, and we would eat together. Jean, who is 86, calls us her grandma. Both have lived in the neighborhood for decades—Jean since the '80s and Terri her whole life."

When the time came for the young couple to get married, Terri and Jean were all about it.

"They loved talking about our upcoming wedding and paid attention to every single part of the planning process, from the dress to the first dance," says Elena.

However, Jean has mobility issues that made it impossible for the women to attend the wedding. So instead, they threw a private marriage ceremony for the couple in their apartment. Terri and Jean decorated from "the 99 cent store" as Terri calls it. They played all the different roles in the wedding, and it's an absolute riot.

Watch the video Elena shared on Instagram:

From Terri playing the father, officiant and bouquet-catcher to Jean's a capella serenade for them to dance to, it was a perfect "wedding."

"It was lots of fun and definitely got us ready for our 'real' wedding two weeks later," says Elena. "We dressed up, read vows, laughed throughout the ceremony and had pizza all together."

Clearly, their getting married meant a lot to Terri and Jean, and the fact that they figured out a way to be a part of it is so heartwarming.


"The experience definitely showed me that weddings are NOT about the money you spend but the feeling behind it and the people who are present," says Elena. "These two women were so supportive of our relationship and we felt surrounded by pure love. There were no expectations and hurt feelings and complications like in our real wedding—just simple awesomeness."

"Whoever said New Yorkers were unfriendly have never lived here!" she adds.

Commenters agreed.

"Everybody shits on the big city but I’ve seen more heart and neighborliness in NYC in the last 9 years than anywhere else I’ve ever lived 😍 this is adorable and SO New York," wrote one person.

"Our Brooklyn neighbors became our bonus grandparents," shared another. "We would cook for each other and shared many COVID holidays together when traveling to be with family wasn’t safe. They’re the best 🥹"

Others just adored everything about it.

"This is the most loving, wholesome thing I’ve seen in ages," wrote one person. "Brings me back to my 'aunt' Rose, the elderly lady who lived next door. She would have me to over parties and tea and it was a magnificent existence."

"This might be the most precious thing I’ve seen in my entire life," wrote another.

"THIS was the wedding. Anything after was a bonus celebration of love," shared another.

man and woman in wedding clothes sitting on a sofa

Dave and Elena, united in neighborly matrimony.

Courtesy of Elena Nicolaou

Here's to the kindness of neighbors, to Elena and Dave's union, and to these two precious ladies who are so delightfully full of life and love.

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Joy

Man has the kindest reaction to an elderly neighbor complaining about his Christmas lights

It became a beautiful display of compassion.

@misterdenali69/TikTok

Kindness is magic.

Christmas is often a time when we try to dig a little deeper to be kind, generous, compassionate, grateful…all the things that make humanity worthwhile.

But having that holiday spirit isn’t always easy when in the middle of conflict. Let’s face it—when someone isn’t kind to us, the hardest thing to do is come back with the best version of ourselves. A special time of the year isn’t going to change that.

And yet, it’s much easier to retain this wisdom when we see it in action elsewhere. Which is why a certain video is making the rounds on TikTok and inspiring others to, as the saying goes, be the change they want to see in the world.

In a now-viral clip shared by several accounts online, we see a man speaking with his neighbor, an elderly woman, on the his porch.

The conversation, all caught on the man’s football camera, appeared to be a confrontation as the elderly woman had come to raise her concerns over the man’s rope Christmas lights, which she claimed were keeping her up at night.

“We went through this before, sweetheart,” the man said in the clip, reminding her that the police came by previously and determined that the lights couldn’t be shining through her bedroom window and causing any disturbance.

Indeed, they had gone head-to-head regarding the Christmas lights before. A previous video showed the woman knocking on his door at 1:30 am to complain about them, resulting in the man saying he would call the cops. The interaction didn’t go much farther than that, but it certainly wasn’t a smooth one.

Many noted that the woman could have been dealing with dementia, which would explain her forgetting any previous encounters.

It’s easy to see how this second altercation could have quickly escalated into something ugly, but instead, the man promised to have lights off by 10 pm at the woman’s request. No sarcasm or passive aggressive tone—just 100% kindness.

And then, the man surmised that this woman didn’t come over to discuss Christmas lights at all. What she was really after was companionship.

@mrdenali69

A true gentleman she’s probably dealing with demntia or something. Im glad he wasn’t mean to her.

♬ original sound - mrdenali

“I think you just need to come over when you’re lonely,” he said, offering for her to come over anytime she feels lonely to have some food, wine and a chat.

Completely taken by surprise, the woman’s hand rushed to her cheeks, and she began apologizing again. But her neighbor simply laughed it off, reassuring her that all was well.

Perhaps the man was right. The holidays can be a lonely time for anyone, but it can hit especially hard for seniors. A survey carried out by AARP in 2017 found that 28 percent of U.S. adults ages 50 and older reported feeling lonely during a holiday season. And that was before a worldwide pandemic.

So maybe this woman saw those Christmas lights, a bittersweet reminder of what she might be missing out on, and was hit with an inexorable yearning for connection without even being aware of her own pain. Who knows.

One thing is for sure—his compassion completely changed the situation, and maybe even their relationship. It’s a beautiful reminder of just how powerful kindness can be.

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Joy

Single mom shares her neighbor's sweet 'wellness check' captured on her doorbell camera

"The world needs more Gregs."

@amandakayex/TikTok

Everyone needs a neighbor like Greg.

If there's one thing all people need but many feel like they're missing, it's community. Even if we're surrounded by people, we may not always feel connected, and many of us yearn for a caring, supportive community to be a part of.

But what we might not realize is that creating a sense of community can be as basic as checking in on a neighbor you haven't seen in a while. That's the simple act that brought nearly 5 million people to doorbell camera recording shared by a TikTok user named Amanda.

The video reads, "POV: your dad died young & you're a single mom but you've been living next to this sweet old man for 5 years who looks out for you at all times."

We see a man—Amanda's neighbor—approach the door and ring the doorbell. After the doorbell's "Not home, leave a message" prompt, Greg says, " Hey, this is Greg, your next-door neighbor. This morning I saw you for the first time in about a week. I was just checking to see if everything was OK, if you're alright. I figured with all the heat and everything else, I'd give a little wellness check. So I was just checking to see if you're okay. Have a good day."

@amandakayex

The world needs more Greg’s. Hes always checkin on us 🥹♥️ #fyp #goodneighbors

People loved Greg, right out of the gate.

"He’s doing a wellness check on you? 🥹 you better do a wellness check on him with cookies!" wrote one person.

"Hello Angel on earth🫶" wrote another.

"My dad passed five years ago and I am sobbing, this was the kind of person my dad was and I miss him terribly 🥺," wrote another.

Everyone agreed that Greg must be protected at all costs.

Amanda shared in a follow-up video that she and her daughter took Greg some warm brownies as thanks for his thoughtfulness. Community is a two-way street, after all.

May we all appreciate the Gregs of this world and also strive to be more like Greg ourselves. Imagine how beautiful it would be if we all looked after our neighbors with such tenderness and care.

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