An amazing community in Seal Beach, California, have been helping the owner of their local donut shop spend more time with his ailing wife by buying all of his products so he can close hours earlier than usual.

John and Stella Chhan have been running the modest Donut City donut shop on Pacific Coast Highway for almost three decades, but a few weeks ago some of their regular customers noticed that part of the duo was missing. John was still boxing and bagging donuts behind the counter, but Stella was nowhere to be found. She had suffered a debilitating aneurysm at the end of September which had left her unable to communicate or move for several weeks. Even though she had started to speak again, the woman was still recovering in a rehabilitation facility, and John went to be with her every day after selling out. But their local community decided to help them spend more time together.

Photo: StockSnap/Pixabay

It all started when local Dawn Caviola learned about Stella’s condition. She couldn’t stop thinking about if for days, and one day she got the idea to rally her neighborhood and help John Chhan finish work at Donut City sooner so he could be with his wife. Three weeks ago, she went on neighborhood networking site Nextdoor to pitch her idea to the local community, and the response has been amazing. John’s donuts have been selling out around three hours faster than usual, and he sometimes gets to close as early as 10:00 am, and spend the whole day with Stella.

“Days went by and I just couldn’t get it out of my head,” Dawn Caviola told the OC Register. “So I thought, if enough people would buy a dozen doughnuts every morning, he could close early and go be with his wife. They’re such sweet, hard-working people”

The Chhans came to the United States from Cambodia as refugees, in 1979, and bought Donut City 10 years later. They’ve been treating the local community to affordable and delicious treats ever since, and the people love them.

 

“We have watched them work extremely hard to keep their doors open and support their family,” local Marc Loopesko said. “We will always support them, even more so in their time of need.”

Apparently, one customer even offered to set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page  to raise money for Stella’s rehabilitation, but John Chhan refused, saying that he has enough money and all he needs is time with his beloved wife.

“We are so thankful,” 62-year-old Chaan said. “She is a lot better, she can speak now and she is learning how to eat again.”

via Neatorama