--- ---  # People Are Buying Out This Doughnut Shop for the Sweetest Reason  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 7, 2018 5:18 PM UTC  Vesna Jovanovic / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm Premium  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Nov 7, 2018 5:18 PM UTC Customers are rallying around the owner of a beloved Southern California [donut shop](http://time.com/money/5297278/national-donut-day-2018-best-doughnuts/) to help him care for his wife who is ill. For two weeks, fans and customers of Seal Beach’s Donut City have lined up in the early hours of the morning to buy out dozens of doughnuts prepared by owner John Chhan, so that he can close his store early to be with his wife Stella, who suffered an aneurysm in late September. According to [_CBS Los Angeles_](https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2018/11/02/customers-help-doughnut-shop-owner/), the couple, who moved to Orange County as Cambodian refugees in 1979, have owned and operated Donut City for nearly three decades. Once customers learned why Stella was no longer at the store, they came up with a plan to help the couple. While John turned down offers from customers to launch a GoFundMe, customers had another solution in mind: buying out all of the shop’s dozens of doughnuts by morning so that John can have more time to be with his wife at the rehabilitation center where she is now. Doughnuts and [helping out a fellow human](http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/31/how-disasters-bring-out-our-kindness/)? Now that’s pretty sweet. Doughnut Store Customers Support Owner and Sick Wife ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5447852/doughnut-store-uplifting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5447852/doughnut-store-uplifting/"},"headline":"People Are Buying Out This Doughnut Shop for the Sweetest Reason","datePublished":"2018-11-07T17:18:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:52.942Z","description":"Sweet like a fresh glazed donut","url":"https://time.com/5447852/doughnut-store-uplifting/","keywords":["Newsfeed","food and drink","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf81663f8f52fceb6/69893e7efb4eac55c1898256/donut-shop-customers-help-owner-sick-wife.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf81663f8f52fceb6/69893e7efb4eac55c1898256/donut-shop-customers-help-owner-sick-wife.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-Up Of Multi Colored Donuts","caption":"Close-Up Of Multi Colored Donuts","creditText":"Vesna Jovanovic / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm Premium","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5447852/doughnut-store-uplifting/","name":"People Are Buying Out This Doughnut Shop for the Sweetest Reason"}}]}] ```