Donut Shop Owner Brutally Attacked, Can’t Pay Hospital Bill
Sam Nouv runs a little donut shop about a mile from my house.
When John was in the hospital, that’s where I bought the donuts for the nurses.
After immigrating to the U.S. from Cambodia in 1987, Sam started working at the shop and by 1990 he owned it (Update via Steve in comments: When he was 13, his parents were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. He spent several years in a displacement camp in Vietnam before finally being sent to the States as part of an entire plane load of orphans).
With the exception of a few holidays, Sam is in the store every morning at 3:30 am and works until 6:00 pm.
Seven days a week.
His wife, Lori, works with him, but she wasn’t there on that Wednesday morning in October.
Thank God.
Somewhere around 4:40 am, the donut shop was robbed. Sam was alone when the assailant entered the shop and he was pistol whipped so badly that he was rushed to Eden Medical Center for emergency surgery to have part of his ear reattached (Update from Steve in comments: “The pistol whipping was so bad that it not only almost severed one ear, but broke the occipital bones around one eye, severely damaged the other eye, and loosened his teeth so that it was more than three weeks before he could eat solid food).
After insurance, the bills for his surgery and health expenses could reach as high as $15,000. Pretty steep for someone who works 15-hour-days to make ends meet. Lori and the kids are trying to keep the shop going until Sam can recover enough to go back to his old schedule.
They need help.
Our friend, Steve Dimick, has helped set up a fund to help Sam and Lori to stay afloat as they deal with their upcoming medical bills. The full story can be found here, at the Castro Valley CARES! website.
Please consider hitting the “Donate” button – and anything, and I mean anything would be appreciated.
Castro Valley is a great community. My husband grew up there, works there and we live so close that it is my community, too. Please consider joining this community, if virtually, by helping Sam keep his business.
They say that charity begins at home. Well, this has hit extremely close to home.
And I want to help make it right.
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
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