Community buys out inventory from deaf Long Beach street vendor left jobless during pandemic

Pedro Castallanos-Aguilar vende paletas heladas de su carrito durante un evento que lo destacó el sábado 22 de agosto de 2020. / Pedro Castallanos-Aguilar sells ice cream from his popsicle cart during an event highlighting him on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. Pedro Castellanos-Aguilar, a deaf Long Beach paletero, was treated to a “buy-out” event Saturday where members of the community came out to purchase all of his cart inventory. The 27-year-old street vendor has been working throughout Long Beach for over eight years. School children from Lincoln, Roosevelt and Stevenson Elementary knew Castellanos-Aguilar and would stop by his cart to buy popsicles and snacks after school. However, when the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close down, it also stopped Castellanos-Aguilar from pushing his cart around the city. “I was feeling sad,” Castellanos-Aguilar wrote on a sheet of paper when the Post interviewed him Saturday. “For two months, I had to stay home.” Local Hearts Foundation co-founders HJ Chong and Tito Rodriguez recognized Castellanos-Aguilar and wanted to do something special for him. “I bought ice cream from him before, and I remember he was deaf, and thought, ‘This guy is a legend,’” Rodriguez said. “He has not let any health […]

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