A heart-felt GoFundMe appeal for an elderly man selling ice lollies on the street to pay for his daughter’s funeral and his wife’s medical bills has reached a staggering $249,141 (almost £187,000) in just three days.
Donations flooded in after Joel Cervantes Macias spotted the 89-year-old man struggling to push his paleta trolley along a street in Chicago. He took a photo of him and stopped to buy $50-worth of paletas (a type of ice lolly).
It was then that he learnt the man was called Fedencio Sanchez and he was forced to push the heavy cart and sell paletas to help pay the bills after he had recently lost his only daughter and his wife had been taken ill.
This prompted Macias and a friend Joe Loera to set up a GoFundMe page for the elderly man and in just three days it has now surpassed the $3,000 target and has reached an amazing $249,141.
Joel Cervantes Macias said: “It broke my heart seeing this man that should be enjoying retirement still working at this age. I had to pull over and took this picture.
“I then bought 20 paletas and gave him a $50 and said may God bless him and drove away. I posted this picture on FB and since then, I’ve gotten a huge response. That’s when Joe Loera came up with a great idea to start this campaign.
“Mr. Fedencio Sanchez and his wife recently lost their only daughter and are still heartbroken about the situation. His elderly wife was selling paletas also to help pay bills, but she fell ill and can’t work anymore. We’re trying to raise money to help him with whatever we can. Anything helps. Let’s all pitch in and help make life a little easier and brighten both of their day.”
Kelsea Little, spokesperson for GoFundMe.com, said: “We are extremely touched by this heart-felt campaign and in awe at the amazing support shown towards Fedencio and his wife at this difficult time.”
Click here to find out how you can https://www.gofundme.com/2am4q7kk
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About GoFundMe
GoFundMe was launched on 10 May 2010 and has quickly become the world’s most popular fundraising website for personal causes and life events, raising £1 billion since launch!
GoFundMe provides an ideal platform for people to organise their own campaign to raise money and invite those in their community to support their fundraising. People can use GoFundMe to raise money for themselves, a friend or loved one during life’s important moments. They can also share their campaign with my built-in connections via Facebook, Twitter or email.
People can use GoFundMe for things like medical expenses, education costs, volunteer programmes, youth sports, funerals & memorials – even animals and pets.
For more information, or to set up a fundraising page, visit www.gofundme.com or follow GoFundMe on Twitter or Facebook.
