A box of Froot Loops started a whole movement

Alan Thompson dropped a bag of groceries on a family's porch in Muskogee, Oklahoma, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a box of Froot Loops rolled out. One of the family's five children, a boy called Red, spotted the cereal and lost his mind with joy. "He did about a two minute dance over those Froot Loops," Thompson recalled. "That changed my life." He went on social media and asked neighbors to leave donated food on his front porch rather than send money. One Saturday, he and his wife came home to find the whole porch buried in groceries. That became the Miracle Crew, a community organization that now runs its own resource center, largely because people kept knocking at 2 and 3 in the morning. Nearly six years on, the group helps connect people with mental health support and jobs. "You don't need a million dollars' worth of equipment or beautiful buildings to help somebody," Thompson said. "Start by helping your neighbor."