A uniformed soldier was standing at the counter of a Taco Bell, ready to order his meal when he stopped cold. He had overheard what two boys were saying and knew he needed to address them. As he did, another diner whipped out his phone to record the exchange, which left him and many viewers stunned.

Army Lt. Col. Robert Risdon had no idea he was being watched — let alone recorded — when he went to a Taco Bell in Mobile, Alabama, to grab some dinner. Unbeknownst to the uniformed soldier, he had captured the attention of Jason Gibson, a man who was sitting alone and eating his meal.

Both Risdon and Gibson quickly noticed a couple of boys darting around the front of the restaurant. When Risdon overheard what the boys were up to, he wanted to ask the boys a question, and it nearly left Gibson choking on his burrito. Shocked, he whipped out his phone and started to record.

The two young boys, aged 9 and 13, had seemingly been left alone at the fast food joint, hoping to sell some items from home. They were pedaling homemade deserts in an effort to raise money for their local. Unfortunately, Army Lt. Col. Risdon didn’t have any cash on him. Risdon could have simply declined, demanded to know where their parents were or pretended not to see them at all. But, he couldn’t ignore the children.

The soldier had quickly noticed the boys looked cold and wet, and it was getting late. So, he asked them if they had had anything to eat for dinner yet. They hadn’t. What happened next was captured on camera by Gibson, who was so affected that he uploaded the video to Facebook and begged others to share it.