Married couple Stella and John Chan are shopkeepers in Southern California. They have been selling doughnuts for about 30 years. But at the end of 2018, regular customers didn’t see Stella behind the counter.
Her husband told that his wife had an aneurysm of a cerebral vessel artery and was partially paralysed and unable to speak. Before Stella’s illness, the couple would arrive at the shop at 2 am to bake doughnuts and start selling them at 4.30 am. Now John had to do everything himself.
The locals decided to help John.
“We tried to offer him money for medical expenses related to Stella, but he didn’t agree,” said Mark Lupesko, a customer of the shop for over 20 years.
A story about John offering to help spread quickly on social media. As John did not want to accept donations, the local community decided to buy up all the donuts in the morning. Then John could close up shop early and spend more time with his wife.
” Many people bought not just one doughnut, but several and handed them out to strangers. Some travelled more than 100km to help,” said Mark Lupesko.
The couple says that the support of many people has helped Stella to get better. After a year, she returned to work in the shop.
