Police Officer buys groceries for family in need.

Earlier this September in Albuquerque, New Mexico, officer Hector Marquez Jr. was dispatched to solve a family dispute in the home of a 63-year-old grandmother. Once the situation settled down, Officer Marquez was surprised to learn that the woman was raising her grandchildren* entirely on a fixed income.

With the children’s parents out of the picture (no father is mentioned and the mother is frequently in and out of prison), their care was entirely dependent on their grandmother’s fixed income and food stamps. The family had also not eaten since that morning, and did not have any more food available. Unable to pick up food stamps for another eight days, they would be forced to go hungry for over a week.

Unable to leave them without helping in some way, Officer Marquez drove to a nearby grocery store and used his own money to purchase the family milk, bread, eggs, sandwich meat, and snacks to last them through the week. Although Marquez stayed silent about his actions, a fellow officer reported the act of compassion to the squad Sergeant, and the media has now recognized him for his kindness.

Watch KOAT’s coverage of the story here.

*News sources disagree on the number of children being raised in the home. Several news sources claim there were six grandchildren, but Albuquerque’s Police Department Facebook page state that there were two.