

2

"In Seal Beach, California, customers have been lining up outside Donut City as early as 4:30 a.m., buying dozens of doughnuts so longtime owners John Chhan and his wife Stella — who have run the shop together for 28 years — can let John close early and spend afternoons with Stella after she suffered an aneurysm on September 22. After patrons began asking about Stella’s absence, Dawn Caviola posted on Nextdoor asking people to buy doughnuts by the dozen, and residents responded enthusiastically: lines formed by 6 a.m., many people bought “three, four, five dozen” each, John said he closed at 7:30 a.m. and sold about 50 dozen that day. One customer, Jenee Rogers, deliberately bought a dozen of the slowest-selling cake doughnuts, and the shop was nearly sold out by 6:30 a.m., allowing John to be with his wife while the community supported the business." - Chris Crowley