A struggling single mother who made a desperate attempt at shoplifting food for her three hungry children found her arrest lead to an outpouring of grace from the community.

And it started with the officer who arrested her.

Jessica Robles said she made the decision to shoplift $300 in groceries from a South Florida Publix store because she had no money to feed her three children. Miami-Dade Police Officer Vicki Thomas, after hearing Robles’ story, took an unusual step. Instead of arresting her, she ran Robles’ background and found nothing major. So Officer Thomas gave Robles a misdemeanor and notice to appear in court.

And then gave her $100 so that Robles could get food for her children.

“I made the decision to buy her some groceries because arresting her wasn’t going to solve the problem with her children being hungry,” Officer Thomas told 7News.

When the TV station ran the story, the grace shown to Robles increased exponentially. A local business took the single mother to Walmart for a shopping spree to get items her family needed and a second viewer who owned a business installing phone systems hired her for a customer service job.

“There’s no words I could tell you right now,” Robles told the TV station. “I’m grateful that you took the time and helped somebody out, especially somebody like me.”