Photo of Aged Street Vendor Leads to Staggering Outpouring of Donations
A picture is worth a thousand...dollars? Well, in this case a few hundred thousand dollars.
A Chicago man named Joel Cervantes posted a picture of 89-year-old Fidencio Sanchez pushing a cart of paletas -- those are Mexican ice pops.
Sanchez was working on his own because his wife, who used to help him, had taken ill and their daughter, who helped her parents out financially, passed away.
What happened after this picture is one of those things that makes you smile. Cervantes started a GoFundMe page for Sanchez, which has raised more than $170,000.
Cervantes says people were immediately drawn to Sanchez and his story.
“They seen how he’s struggling to pull the cart. He looks like he’s suffering, like he’ll never give up...they put two and two together, like they need to do this to survive,” he said.
Sanchez also knows the infusion of money will change his life. "Well, seems to me like it won't be necessary anymore and I will be able to rest more at home," he said. "It means a lot, and the changes will be that there will be no need for me to work, and we will have help in all aspects."