On Father’s day, Michaelangelo Mosqueda and his Gonzalez-Domínguez family were enjoying the day when they saw an elderly vendor selling Mexican style ice pops called paletas.
The elderly vendor is Don Rosario, a 70-year-old man who lives in the Southeast Side neighborhood of Chicago. For the past 50 years, he has been selling paletas in the neighborhood and is adored for his humble nature.
On June 22, Mosqueda posted a video on his TikTok account in which his family purchased all the paletas from Rosario. They purchased the contents in their entirety so that Rosario could spend time with his family on Father’s Day. The video shows the 70-year-old shedding tears.
Karen Gonzalez, one of Michaelangelo’s family members said,
“It can be very dangerous for paleteros or anyone out in the streets; we have heard of many that have been attacked by people just to get a couple of hundred dollars from them.”
The heartfelt video led to millions of views. Also, many news outlets have picked up the video. But this was just the beginning of an act of kindness. The next day, Michaelangelo Mosqueda started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Rosario’s retirement. Mosqueda wrote on the site,
“The money raised will hopefully allow him to no longer have to work in the heat. I intend to withdraw the money and personally deliver it to him. I have obtained his contact information to set up a meeting and give him all the donations.”
As of 25th June, Michaelangelo has raised a total of $39,305 for Rosario’s retirement. People have been donating with kindness and there’s nothing more inspiring than this.
According to the latest update, Michaelangelo said that they had surpassed the fundraising goal so they would now stop raising donations. He also hopes that the raised funds would be enough for Rosario to get through all. He exclaimed that he is impatient to present the donations to Rosario.
