Fidencio Sánchez was 89 and still pushing his paleta cart through the streets of La Villita, Chicago.
He wasn’t doing it out of habit. His daughter Catalina had died in 2016, and she had been the one helping with the household expenses. From then on, he and his wife Eladia were left to care for two grandchildren, and his wife could no longer accompany him to work. So Don Fidencio kept going out, day after day, to sell paletas from the Paletas Poncho cart.
One day, Joel Cervantes Macías saw him struggling along and took a photo. He posted it on Facebook along with a GoFundMe page and set a modest goal: $3,000. In just one day, it had already raised $100,000. In less than a week, it surpassed $356,000, with donations from around 17,000 strangers in 52 countries. On September 21, 2016, they presented him with the check.
The story had an ending few expected. Don Fidencio died on November 6, 2019, surrounded by his family, who thanked everyone who had made his last three years happy and comfortable.