Not all elderly people are fortunate enough to have happy and strong families, to keep them safe and at peace as they approach the end of their life’s journey. But amazingly, our world still has good Samaritans who always jump in to help, just like this kind-hearted man!
Joel Cervantes Macias was driving through Chicago when something caught his eye — it was the sad scene of a stooped old man pushing an ice-cream cart through the streets. He did not know the old man, but thought to himself “this old grandpa should be at home with his feet up, rather than outside working, pushing a heavy ice-cream cart.”
“It really broke my heart, seeing this old man work so hard.” Joel said.
“I just had to pull over. I found out that his name is Fidencio, I took this photo, and then I bought 20 paletos and gave him $50. I said to him, ‘may God bless you,’ and drove away.”
Cervantes wanted to do more…he shared this story and created a GoFundMe account to raise money for 89-year-old Fidencio. The target was $3,000.
In the days that followed, Joel learned that Fidencio had originally been taken care of by his daughter. Then, tragedy struck and his daughter died, leaving Joel and his wife to look after their grandchildren. That is when he had to return to work.
Fidencio worked over 12 hours a day for 23 years and earned a meager $50 to $60 a day.
After sharing his story through GoFundMe, the community raised $141,000 in a few days. Since then, other kind strangers have helped to raise $384,000 for Fidencio.
“It’s amazing how everyone just got into the spirit, pitching in and spreading the word of love,” said Joel.
“It’s the most beautiful thing I have seen,” says Joe Loea, who also helped organize the GoFundMe project.
This project is a wonderful gesture of kindness with so many people working together to help others less fortunate.
