When customers of Donut City in Seal Beach, California, heard that the owner’s wife was seriously ill, they wanted to help out. But John Chhan didn’t want to accept charity. So they found another way.
Chhan, 62, and his wife, Stella, 63, migrated to California in 1979 as refugees from Cambodia, KCAL reported. They’ve run the doughnut shop for three decades, working side by side every morning ― until Stella suffered a brain aneurysm.
Realizing that the most important thing for the Chhans was to spend as much time as possible together, the customers spread the word that instead of buying one doughnut at a time, they should buy them by the dozen. That way the doughnuts would sell out sooner and Chhan could go visit his wife at the rehabilitation center where she is staying.
The shop usually opens at 4:30 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m., but lately it has run out of doughnuts as early as 7:30 a.m., The Washington Post reported.
One customer offered to set up a GoFundMe page for the couple, but Chhan declined.
“He said he has enough money,” customer Dawn Caviola told The Orange County Register. “He just wants to spend more time with his wife.”
Many of the customers have been buying doughnuts there for decades.
“We have watched them work extremely hard to keep their doors open and support their family,” Marc Loopesko said. “We will always support them, even more so in their time of need.”
Chhan told The Washington Post that his wife is recuperating slowly and that he is very grateful for his customers’ support.
“I so appreciate it,” he said. “I just can’t say enough thank you and thank you.”