Santa Ana street vendor robbed, community raises $10,000 to help him

Hundreds of people in Santa Ana have rallied together to help a beloved street vendor regroup after he was robbed just days before Mother's Day. 

The robbery happened on May 10, in broad daylight, when a man ran up to the street vendor Israel Parra Ruiz and grabbed a bucket filled with bouquets of flowers. Ruiz tried desperately to chase the man down but the thief hopped into a getaway SUV and sped off. 

"It was very sad," said Kenia Parra, Ruiz's daughter. "I was mad as well because my dad is very hard-working. He didn't deserve that."

The father and daughter duo were simply trying to make a living by selling Mother's Day bouquets when the suspect stole about $260 worth of flowers. The 60-year-old Ruiz has disabilities and sells bouquets as his primary source of income. This is not the first time someone has robbed him around the Mother's Day season. 

Ruiz decided to not file a police report because he felt uncomfortable going through the justice system to get some help. However, thanks to the efforts of some witnesses, Ruiz got help from close to 400 people that wanted to right this wrong. 

Jeydi Delalanza, one of the women that organized the effort, witnessed the theft and wanted to help. Delalanza and her sister, who works nearby, went on a tireless search for video and learned a nearby worker caught the theft on her car's dashcam. Delalanza had never met Ruiz, but had seen him day in and day out hustling to make ends meet. She decided to help recoup the hard-working street vendor's losses by sharing his story through social media and creating a GoFundMe for him.

So far, they are just a few hundred dollars away from their $10,000 goal.

Parra said she and her dad were shocked to learn strangers raised a small fortune for her family.

"Out of this bad thing, a lot of blessings have come and he's very thankful, he's seen that the community came united helping him out," said Parra.