What started with a court warning in Ohio turned into strangers showing up at the door to help.

For weeks, 79-year-old Beverly Thomas had been struggling to keep up with her property as arthritis and tremors made yard work harder. Living on a fixed income also left her unable to pay for help or legal costs.

That pressure grew when she was summoned to court over the condition of her yard.

“I went to court and heard [the judge] say that I can be put in jail over it, making it sound like a crime,” Thomas said. “Then I got nervous and had trouble sleeping at night.”

Thomas, a retired nurse, said the situation left her feeling overwhelmed and alone.

After a local television station shared her story, people across northeast Ohio began reaching out to help.

The next morning, Thomas said there was a knock at her door.

“I walk slow because of the arthritis,” she said. “There were two people there. They said, ‘We don’t know each other, but we just showed up at the same time.’ Wow, good people at that same time, amazing and reassuring.”

Thomas said one of the visitors was a local attorney offering legal help. The other was Norburt Sanek, a lawn care professional who volunteered to organise a cleanup of the property.

Sanek said he saw Thomas’s story on Facebook and wanted to help.

“I came from a large Catholic family,” he said. “This is how I was brought up. You help neighbors, especially the elderly.”

Soon, dozens of people had expressed interest in helping, with volunteers discussing work including trimming overgrown vegetation, hauling away debris and removing a large dead tree from the backyard.

For Thomas, the support was unexpected.

“I’m touched that people care,” she said. “I know they’re out there, just didn’t know how to reach them.”