Good Samaritans raise over $10,000 for 80-year-old Chicago empanada vendor

Good Samaritans raise over $10,000 for empanada vendor, 80, who was robbed twice in two weeks, including once at gunpoint, as he sold his $1 treats

  • Widower Modesto Fuentes, 80, is an empanadas vendor in Chicago who was robbed twice over the past two weeks as he sold his treats
  • In one attack he was robbed at gunpoint of the $38 he earned from the day 
  • Fuentes walks for six miles three times a week selling his $1 treats
  • He wants to save $15,000 in order to retire in Mexico
  • Heartbroken locals have started a GoFundMe page to share his story  
  • The page has already raised more than $10,000 towards his cause, surpassing the initial goal of $1,000   

Good Samaritans have helped raise over $10,000 for an 80-year-old Chicago empanada vendor who sells his treats for just $1 each and was robbed twice in the last two weeks. 

Modesto Fuentes, 80, is a hardworking Chicago man who walks six miles around Gage Park three times a week selling his cheap empanadas. 

He’s trying raising $15,000 to retire in Mexico and to place a new cross over his wife Juana’s grave as she passed away several years ago. 

Despite his hard efforts, he’s been robbed twice over the last two weeks, once terrifyingly at gunpoint where he lost his meager $38 dollar profit made that day.  

Widower Modesto Fuentes, 80, is an empanadas vendor in Chicago who was robbed twice over the past two weeks as he sold his treats, including once at gunpoint

The modest man is trying to save up $15,000 to retire in Mexico and to visit his wife Juana's grave

The modest man is trying to save up $15,000 to retire in Mexico and to visit his wife Juana’s grave

The Chicago man walks six miles around Gage Park three times a week to sell his $1 treats

The Chicago man walks six miles around Gage Park three times a week to sell his $1 treats

‘They took $40 and four empanadas. I just want to earn an honest living,’ Fuentes said through a translator to CBS.  

When his customer Tania Rangel heard of the robbery she was outraged and shared his harrowing story on Facebook. 

‘I just wanted to have people support him. People were commenting, “hey, start a GoFundMe for him,”‘ Rangel said. 

Rangel set up the GoFundMe page to win back Fuentes’ losses, starting out with a of $1,000. But she was left completely shocked by the overwhelming support that flooded her way. 

She reset the goal to $10,000 and the page has already surpassed that, peaking at $10,726 by Friday morning. 

‘I started with a goal of $1,000, just trying to help him. And then it started raising and raising. People were like, “add more, add more,”‘ she said. 

'They took $40 and four empanadas. I just want to earn an honest living,' Fuentes said, recalling how he was robbed twice in the past two weeks

‘They took $40 and four empanadas. I just want to earn an honest living,’ Fuentes said, recalling how he was robbed twice in the past two weeks

Customer Tania Rangel (left) heard of the robbery, shared his story online, and started the GoFundMe page for him

Customer Tania Rangel (left) heard of the robbery, shared his story online, and started the GoFundMe page for him

Fuentes says his life has been difficult after his wife Juana died several years ago

Fuentes says his life has been difficult after his wife Juana died several years ago 

The GoFundMe page raised a whopping $10,726 by Friday morning

The GoFundMe page raised a whopping $10,726 by Friday morning 

More than 550 kind-hearted people have donated to Fuentes’ cause. 

‘I see my dad in him and I wanted to do whatever I could for him,’ Rangel said. 

She details Fuente’s dire situation on the GoFundMe page, explaining that life has been difficult for him following his wife’s death. 

‘His name is Modesto and he sells delicious empanadas and I have been buying from him the last few years. I ran into him today and he told me about how hard it has been lately. His wife died a couple years ago and his only job is to sell these empanadas,’ she wrote in the page. 

‘He has been robbed a couple of times and as recent as two days ago he was robbed at gun point and they took the only $38 dollars he had made the whole day! This hurt my soul to know people are stealing and terrorizing an older man that is out in the hot and cold making a few dollars a day!’ she added, urging people to donate.

The initial goal of the page was to recover his losses and the cost of future groceries but it looks like it may soon reach $15,000, giving Fuente the Mexico retirement he’s always dreamed of.  

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk