This year’s winter has been a polar vortex for the Midwest, and the city of Chicago, Illinois has been hit especially hard by it.

Sabeel Ahmed lives in a Chicago suburb with his wife and three children, and when temperatures dropped to a record low, they feared for the safety of their 95 year-old neighbor. This led them to also worry about their other neighbors who may be sick or elderly, so they hatched a plan to help them all.

Sabeel and his wife spent hours writing out letters by hand and delivering them to forty homes in their neighborhood. The letters made numerous selfless offers to the recipients, with the family offering to do things like pick up groceries, fill prescription medication orders, or shovel snow from driveways of those who could no longer do it or might need help doing so.

“As temperatures dip way below zero, neighbors are the ones to help each other,” the letters stated.

The Ahmeds also invited each of their neighbors over for hot tea and snacks.

“We hope and pray each person seeing this letter that they would write something similar and not just for winter this should be a lifelong activity for all neighbors every city of this state,” Sabeel said.

With all the negativity in the world today, it’s nice to see a story about neighbors going above and beyond to help one another. Find out more about this selfless family in the video below.