A Broward County judge gave a penniless mother a priceless gift this week: freedom.

Angel Smith, 41, had been arrested for leaving her two children in a hot car for two hours while she gave blood to earn money to feed them.

She was paid around $30 for giving blood, but when she left the center, cops were waiting.

A security guard at the blood donation clinic saw the children – ages 4 and 7 – alone in the car and called police, who arrested Smith on child neglect charges. The children were unharmed and are in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

But Judge John Hurley said that life had given the desperate mother enough hard times and that she didn’t deserve to serve hard time. Smith was living out of a hotel and had just been laid off.