Man 'lost everything' in crash that destroyed his food truck so community stepped up and raised $46k

Building something from the ground up is never easy; building it again is even tougher. But if someone has support from other people it can become a little bit easier. This man's food truck was completely destroyed when a car rear-ended it. Thankfully, he made it out of his truck alive without any physical injuries. Nonetheless, the business he built will suffer big losses due to the damage caused to his food truck. Andre Richards, the owner of the Gumbo food truck, shared with ABC News affiliate WISN that he felt as if a piece of his dream was lost that day. The accident occurred near Holton and Capitol in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee police shared that a 28-year-old woman was driving the car that rear-ended Richards' food truck and she was probably intoxicated.

Richards was about to close and get out the last of the food orders when he felt a bang. It was so hard that he flew from the back to the front of the vehicle as per the reports. The man added that when the lights came on everything felt unreal. "I was just confused, like, what's going on, you know? I make gumbo like this every day, this ain't supposed to be happening," the man shared with CBS affiliate WDJT. However, even after losing so much the Milwaukee man shares that he has no hate in his heart. He believes that it was just an accident and is glad that both he and the woman are safe. He expressed that it was an unfortunate situation but he doesn't wish anything bad for anybody. The man told the outlet that he had been parking and operating his truck from that spot on Capitol Drive for the past three years, so the incident left him quite shocked. 

"This my spot, everybody knows in the city to come here, to this spot, of the best gumbo in the city. And now, unfortunately, they have to find another place to get their gumbo fix," Richards told the outlet. He also shared how he had built his truck from the ground up in 14 months, working day and night. But it took mere seconds and a single crash for all of it to get destroyed. However, soon after the incident, a GoFundMe page was set up to help Richards' business get up and running again. The GoFundMe organized by Anthony M was put up for Richards and has collected over $50K. The page has also surpassed its fundraising goal by more than triple in just two days.

The man is now planning to build his Gumbo restaurant and couldn't be more thankful for the people who are helping him rebuild his dream. "I'm just happy to see that we can all come together to finish out a dream that I started, and I never knew that people would believe in my dream like I do… it makes me feel good, it makes me feel proud," Richards told the outlet. It is a proud moment for everyone who participated in restoring happiness in the man's life. The circumstance will leave him and the staff out of work for a few months, but they will be able to build it back up as per PEOPLE. The man took to Gumbo Valley's Facebook page to thank everyone for their support with a post that read, "When life gives us lemons we make southern lemonade.”