Soap actress Lisa Peluso tried to help a New York woman and her four children with food and shelter, but the mother was finally charged with child endangerment.

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Peluso, who acted in "Another World" and "Search for Tomorrow," became friendly with Estelle Walker, 47, whom she met at Times Square Church on Broadway. Walker said she had been abused by her husband, the New York Post reported.

The actress and her husband own a log cabin in rural New Jersey, and let Walker and her four kids, ages 8 through 18, live there. Peluso, church members and members of Walker's family weekly delivered bags of food to the family, the newspaper said.

"I did everything I could to help them," said Peluso. "The mother did nothing to help herself."

Police visited the house on an anonymous tip and later arrested Walker on child-neglect charges, the Post reported.

"(The children) were skin and bones," said Sussex County First Assistant Prosecutor William Fitzgibbons.

"(Walker) had many things she could have done, including offers for placement," Peluso said. "She refused all of those options."

Walker had insisted that God would provide, the newspaper said. Her children are now with other relatives.