Back in the day, before my folks moved to Alton full time, they had a red light hanging in the front window that would turn on at 40 degrees. Our neighbors would call my folks to let them know the power was out. Several of them had a key (actually they all knew where the key was hanging) so they could get in and check things out. It was nice to have neighbors that took care of neighbors back then. Not so much anymore.
Dave