When Oakland community organizer Christian Fregoso saw disturbing surveillance video of 50-year-old ice cream vendor Felipe Ramos Bautista being brutally attacked and robbed by three masked assailants, he was compelled to do something to help. Bautista, who’s originally from Guatemala and had just moved to Oakland from San Diego, had only been working as an ice cream vendor for a couple of months when the May 24th robbery occurred.
Along with some friends, Fregoso tracked down Bautista and organized an event to support him. He invited the entire community to come and buy some of Bautista’s ice cream. On Sunday, hundreds of locals lined up and within hours, he had sold out of close to 300 frozen treats. Oakland firefighters even got in on the action, stopping by between calls.
Fregoso was pleased with the turnout at the event, which also included several other food vendors who donated all of their proceeds from the day to Bautista. According to Fregoso, the overwhelming support from the community brought the grateful ice cream vendor to tears.
Source: ABC 7 NEWS
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