Hello, my name is Kelly Gonzales and I work at ARUBA, an ice cream factory located in Peru and known by many for these little carts and their friendly sellers:

The company was founded in Arequipa and later expanded to Lima, Cuzco, Trujillo and Chiclayo.

On March 16th we had to close every factory and stop producing due to the coronavirus outbreak, for the safety of our employees and also due to the fact that ice cream is not considered an essential food and can’t be sold in the streets.

Helados ARUBA keeps giving financial support to approximately 60 workers, who are directly related to the company. We have paid their salaries for the month of March and plan on continue doing it for the month of April.

However, there is a group of workers that is not directly related to our company and they are the ice cream vendors who work in the streets. They work for our distributors and they are in their majority elderly people. They use their ice cream cart each day to bring some money back to their families. These people have suddenly stopped receiving any type of income and are uncertain on when they will be able to go back to work.

There are approximately 1,500 ice cream vendors nationally. For ARUBA, like many companies in the country, we have seen ourselves affected economically and it is impossible for us to give financial support to all of our collaborators.

In this moment of global crisis, where empathy and generosity needs to be seen, we cannot be indifferent to this situation.  

I am reaching out to you for a lending hand.

Surely, the situation has impacted you as much as everybody else. Unlike these people, you are not living in uncertainty and desperation as to when your next plate of food will come from or place to sleep be.

These people need our help and we are asking you to help Us help them not lose everything in their lives.

Each ice cream vendor is registered in his or her respective distributor. Therefore, we can assure your help will reach every single one of them.

God bless you.