SAN ANTONIO – Hundreds of people came to the Southtown bar Gimme Gimme on Sunday as more than just customers.
They came as friends and supporters of owner Aaron Peña, buying plates of fajitas to help with his medical bills.
In April, Peña was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He has already undergone surgery but still needs 12 weeks of chemotherapy.
Peña has run bars for nine years in San Antonio, including Gimme Gimme, Amor Eterno, and the former Squeezebox. His co-founders of pop-up Fajita Lounge helped plan the event, which they described as “Fajita Lounge on steroids.”
“This is what we do,” said Matt Garcia, standing alongside co-founder Jacob Gonzales. “If it was Jake in this diagnosis, or myself in this diagnosis, Aaron would be the first person to say, ‘OK, how do we get you taken care of?’”
Word of the event brought hundreds of visitors to the parking lot behind Gimme Gimme, where a table also sold prayer candles for “Saint Peña, the Patron Saint of Southtown.”
“I feel overwhelmed. I feel loved,“ Peña told KSAT. ”It feels like a family party, and I feel extremely, extremely grateful."
Peña told KSAT that once he’s through with his chemotherapy, he hopes to start a non-profit to help people in the same situation with their medical bills.
