The Bronx street vendor who had $10,000 worth of produce confiscated by the NYPD and thrown out by the city Sanitation Department, as captured in a viral video, received a $13,000 donation from advocates in support of her business Saturday.

Diana Hernandez Cruz, a food vendor who says she’s tried to obtain a license from the city, received the contributions at a news conference in Pelham Parkway, the neighborhood where the fruits and vegetables she had purchased wholesale that same day were thrown into a dump truck.

"This is not being given to me by the mayor, but my neighborhood, my people who support me," Hernandez Cruz, 36, told supporters in Spanish at the news conference after receiving the check. "I'm grateful for the people who brought me this because I want a good future for my children."

Hernandez, who immigrated from Mexico 12 years ago, is a mother of four. She's maintained her business at the corner of White Plains Road and Pelham Parkway South for five years.

The donations came from more than 180 donors, along with online fundraising efforts by City Workers For Justice, a group comprised of municipal workers calling for great equity across the city. Among her donors was Hot 97 radio host Ebro, who gave $5,000. Along with the donations, Hernandez Cruz also received a laptop computer and printer for her high school aged-son from Tanesha Grant of Parents Supporting Parents. The group has spent the pandemic providing laptops to families.

The donations have restored Hernandez Cruz’s outdoor produce business that she’s maintained for the last several years. On September 23rd, Hernandez Cruz was issued a citation by the NYPD and officials from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) for selling the fresh food without a mobile food vendor permit. The NYPD eventually called the sanitation department to have the produce thrown away. A passerby had noticed what was happening and began recording the incident on her phone. The video was shared with the Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group for street vendors, and posted on its Twitter account. The video rapidly went viral, generating 1.8 million views and over 4,000 retweets.

Eventually, DCWP, NYPD officers and sanitation workers left the scene without throwing out all the food after experiencing intense backlash from community residents. Hernandez Cruz gave away the rest of her food.

"People were outraged to see what happened to her and wanted to support her," Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, the deputy director of the Street Vendor Project. "Her neighbors, who were extremely angry to see the food being wasted and thrown out, but also to see the abuse inflicted on Diana who's a beloved member of the neighborhood."

Among those outraged was Mayor Bill de Blasio, who called it a "classic thing of bureaucracies not communicating and not using common sense" at a new conference several days after the incident.

The City Council has also sought to increase the number of additional permits by roughly 4,000. Permits will be issued in increments of 400 yearly over the next decade, beginning in 2022. Even so, there are thousands of names still on the waiting list to obtain a permit and formalize their business. The waiting list has created a blackmarket system in which vendors lease permits for upwards of $25,000.

"I think a really important takeaway from this incident is that it's not the first time. And unfortunately it may not be the last time until legislation is changed," Kaufman-Gutierrez said. "Because right now for vendors like Diana she tried for years to try to go get a permit from the city. She's trying to do the right things to formalize their business but the cap on the permits available make it so that she can't."

State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez Rojas have proposed a bill for unlimited licenses, which has been reportedly criticized by local business improvement districts.