A 9-year-old boy in California used his allowance money to pay off school lunch debts for his entire third-grade class, KGO-TV/ABC7 News reported.

When Ryan Kirkpatrick, a student at West Park Elementary School, learned that some kids cannot afford lunch at school and have to take on debt, he wanted to make a difference, according to his mom, Kylie Kirkpatrick.

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Ryan asked his mom to find out how much his peers at his own school owed for lunches, and his mom discovered it was about $74.50. The price of school lunches range from 30 cents to $3.25 each.

“What do you want to do?” Kirkpatrick asked her son, according to KGO-TV/ABC7 News. “He said, 'I guess I can pay for it.' I said, 'are you sure?' And he said, 'yes.' "

Ryan would usually use his allowance money to buy sports gear, like autographed baseballs, but he gave it to the school anonymously.

“I want them just to realize people actually think about them instead of just telling them what they did because you're just bragging about stuff,” Ryan said. “I want them to feel happy that someone cares about them."

Students with negative accounts are still given hot meals at lunchtime at the school, according to ABC News.