9-year-old boy earns praise for helping struggling flower vendor: ‘You are one awesome kid!’
A 9-year-old boy from California has been lauded for going above and beyond for a flower vendor who had appeared to be struggling on the job, KTLA reports.
Jeremiah Reyes was on his way to basketball practice with his sister Stephanie when the two came across 57-year-old Israel Parra, who was selling flowers on the side of the road in Santa Ana. Reyes, a fifth grader, told the station that was when he noticed that Parra seemed to be having trouble in the heat with only one arm.
“I felt really sad,” he said. “I really wanted to help him out.”
When the boy later learned that Parra, who doesn’t have health insurance, was also struggling financially, he decided to take matters into his own hands and created a GoFundMe with a goal of raising $20,000.
“It just stayed in my heart and it just made me sad, kept on thinking about it and I really wanted to help him out,” Reyes explained.
The generous act caught Parra, who picks up bouquets six days a week from Lupita’s Flowers and tries to sell them, off guard. According to the station, the vendor had lost his arm in an accident in 1999 and initially sold ice cream with a prosthetic arm for a while.
“I started selling ice cream, but it was too hard to push the cart with one arm, so I switched to selling flowers because they weren’t as heavy,” he explained.
The vendor said he soon found his prosthetic arm to be cumbersome and has been selling flowers with one arm ever since. Now, Reyes is hoping to fix that by raising enough money to get Parra a new prosthetic that will make the vendor’s job more manageable.
“I want to inspire everybody out there to start helping the community,” said the fifth grader, whose kindness has earned him praise on social media.
“GOD BLESS YOU!” one person wrote on his Instagram account. “May he [continue] to bless you so you can bless others.”
“You are one awesome kid!” another added. “Keep up the great work!”
If you enjoyed this story, you might want to read about the ice pop vendor who was left speechless following a family’s selfless act.
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