By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA New Hampshire woman had just finished a difficult day at work when she got a text from her neighbor that changed everything.
Martha Compton grew up in Salem but is something of a newcomer to the town, having moved away over 25 years ago. She returned last year to be closer to family while she was going through a divorce, but found reintegrating into local life difficult.
“I’ve been working to meet people and make friends, but I don’t have kids, work from home and am in my late forties so it has been a challenge,” Compton told Newsweek.
It can be daunting to start over in the way Compton has, but she’s not alone. As well as having friends and family nearby, Compton has struck up a bond with next-door neighbor Roxy Kuhlmann.
“I randomly ended up with the sweetest next-door neighbor,” Compton said. “She and her husband are so kind and our dogs are about the same age and play nicely together.”
There are countless benefits to forming strong bonds with your neighbors, but many Americans today struggle to foster them.
...A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found 44 percent of adults trust all or most of the people in their neighborhood. This is a drop on the 52 percent who gave the same answer when polled in 2015.
Earlier this month, Compton was served a reminder of why having that bond with a neighbor can make all the difference at the end of a busy day of work.
“I am gearing up to shift roles at work so it is an especially busy time as I prepare to hand off a lot of my work and help my colleague get up to speed on the role,” she said. “It was just one of those days where work was super busy and intense and I barely had a break.”
By the time the end of work rolled around, Compton was exhausted and, having barely had a break, very hungry. “I was trying to figure out my options, cheese & crackers and an apple were the front-runners,” Compton said.
Just at that moment, she got a text from Kuhlmann that made what had been a gray day that little bit brighter. “She just happened to text me and let me know she had made a bunch of chili and asked if I would like some,” Compton said.
The message could not have been better timed. But it meant so much more than just that to her. “It made me feel very cared for,” she said. “She has been a wonderful neighbor and it was just so sweet at just the right time.”
Eager to shine a light on her neighbor’s sweet gesture, Compton took to her Threads account, @marthakcompton, to share a screenshot of Kuhlmann’s text and the food she made her. The post earned over 3,300 likes and plenty of praise.
“This is what we need, we need COMMUNITY minded people, to take care of each other. I love this, happy you have a kind neighbor looking out for you,” one user commented.
“Good neighbors are absolute gold. I was lucky enough to inherit the best neighbors when I moved in with my partner during Covid and they have become family,” another said.
Compton has been delighted by the response to the post. She hopes it serves as a beacon of hope to anyone who might be struggling.
“Things feel kind of heavy right now, and have for a bit,” she said. “It was a bright spot in my day and I hoped other people would get a little warm fuzzy from it and a nice reminder that it doesn’t take much to make someone’s day better.”
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