CHICAGO (WCMH) — On some days, 89-year-old Fidencio Sanchez would make about $80 dollars selling ice pops, on other days he’d only bring in $8. But thanks to a crowdfunding campaign, his life has drastically changed.

For 20 years during the summer, and sometimes on nice winter days, Sanchez would push the 50 pound cart through the Chicago village, according to WGN.

“Everybody in Little Village has a lot of respect for him, because he’s a hard worker. Now that everything became so big and everybody’s actually giving the respect, it’s just amazing,” said resident Gustavo Pedraza.

But when Sanchez’s daughter, who helped support him and his wife, died in June things began to get tough for the ice pop seller.

So when a picture of him pushing the cart went viral and a GoFundMe account was started, the hopes of raising enough money for the man to take a week off changed to having enough for him to retire.

“On the optimistic side, I was thinking he might get $2,000. I mean, like, ‘Well, maybe we get him a week off,’ and we got him retired. It’s pretty awesome,” Jose Loera, who started the GoFundMe account, told WGN.

Sanchez said because of people’s kindness he can finally rest and when asked what he’d like to say to the thousands of strangers who helped him Sanchez replied with a “Muchos gracias.”