Sweet Reason Woman Stepped up for Neighbor She’s ‘Not Really Close To’

A woman has inspired the internet with an act of kindness towards her newly postpartum neighbor.

Knowing your neighbor has long been an important pillar of community, yet less and less people seem to know who lives next to them.

Some 57 percent of Americans say they only know a few of their neighbors, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

However, one woman looked to turn that trend on its head as she made food and delivered a meal to her neighbor who has just given birth. Heartwarming footage of her making the meal has already amassed 2.3 million views and 370,000 likes on TikTok.

Jance Arunaj (@iamjance_), 31, a teacher and doula from the U.K., told Newsweek: “I’m blown away by the response to the video but also quite confused that this isn’t the norm.

“The comments and messages I’ve received are truly heartbreaking…so many mothers around the world saying they didn’t have that support and how much they needed it.

“One mother even said she didn’t eat for four days when she was newly postpartum and a meal from a neighbor would have saved her.”

The video showed Arunaj cooking up sticky sesame tofu rice in a wok to take to her neighbor.

She wrote on the video’s overlay: “Making another meal for my newly postpartum neighbor who I’m not really close to at all because I realized I am the village.”

Arunaj said helping your neighbors and cooking for them used to be the norm, but sadly now it is not.

“It takes a village to raise a child” is a well-known proverb but Arunaj argues this notion seems to have been lost in modern times.

She added: “My neighbor has been super grateful and said it was a huge support, which she’s mentioned on multiple occasions.

“They did prep a few meals in the freezer when they were pregnant but said a hot meal makes a huge difference.”

Arunaj added: “I think we need to step up and ask ourselves what we can do to support each other, your village doesn’t need to be big but it needs to be strong and you are the village, stop waiting around for someone else!”

The mom explained the overwhelming response to the video has inspired her to reach out to more of her neighbors, friends and family in case they are suffering in silence and need support.

Many moms shared how lonely they were when they were on their pregnancy journeys and were in awe of Arunaj’s kindness.

Em commented: “As someone who was alone 90% of my pregnancy and rarely had help once my son was born. The world needs more people like you.”

Philippa shared: “You do not realise how much of a blessing this will be for them. I remember when I was postpartum my neighbour came around with homemade food it was incredible I could have cried.”

Others were inspired to go and share the same generosity to those who live around them.

Emma asked: “Honestly that just made me realize we have a new parent in our apartment complex— should I leave a note asking if they want support in any way (or would that be weird)?”

After reading suggestions, Emma decided she would leave them a congratulations card with some food gift cards so if one day cooking feels like too much, they can treat themselves to a take out.

One mom shared how she was rewarded the same generosity and how much it helped.

Isa said: “I lived in a condo building with lots of retired ladies. I was well fed and my daughter had 6 bonus grandmas.”