Donors helping Poppin Dough donut shop owner pay huge bill for pipe repair that forced him to close
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Longwood Manor donut shop owner was struggling to pay thousands of dollars to repair a broken pipe outside his business, until he shared his story with CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot, and something wonderful happened.
The problem pipe is just steps from Poppin Dough's front door. The shop's owner said the cost of fixing the pipe isn't a problem anymore, after the outpouring of support from CBS 2 viewers.
We first brought you Richard Gray's story on Valentine's Day.
Gray is the co-owner of Poppin' Dough in the Longwood Manor neighborhood. The store has been selling donuts and a variety of popcorn in the community, for nearly seven years.
Gray was making an appeal to his regular Poppin' Dough customers, who he calls his "Poptastic family," to donate to his pipe repair fund.
"Some time ago, I had a flood, and a pipe broke out in front of the store," he said.
Gray learned a collapsed pipe in front of his store, under the sidewalk, was his responsibility to fix. The broken pipe led to flooding in the basement of the home attached to his business.
The cost to fix the pipe: $42,000.
Gray hired Mercury Construction and Demolition to do the repair. After our story aired, the company owner told Gray he wanted to help.
"They donated some services to me. They brought costs down," Gray said.
The cost went down from $42,000 to $30,000. Gray, a retired special education teacher, said the generosity didn't stop there.
"I don't know how they saw the story, but I had people call from Vegas, I had people call from Louisiana; calling just for support, and even some old teachers I worked with some time ago called from Boston and offered some support and sent funds to help me get back open," Gray said.
On Feb. 14, there was just over $800 donated to Gray's GoFundMe page. Today, more than $11,000 has been donated.
"It just really, really touched me that people, in these times, especially as hard as it is, in these times, really care," Gray said.
Poppin' Dough's doors have been closed since December.
With the pipe repair completed on Tuesday, and passing inspection from the water department, Gray said he plans to do a grand reopening at the end of the month, featuring sweet gifts for everyone who supported him, to help him get his shop reopened.
