By Lindsey Baxter | [email protected]

Throughout the months of December and January, the community came together to support business owner Pawitt Numnuan. Although many have come to support him and his store, Top It Frozen Yogurt located at 4379 South Holladay Boulevard, the organization Friend-2-Friend put together a major effort to keep the store up and running. 

Numnuan’s wife, Sokha, unexpectedly fell into a coma forcing Pawitt to work all day and then go to the hospital to be with her. However, due to the late hours he was at the hospital, he could never speak with the doctors. As the community heard about his ordeal and struggles, they stepped up to help him. 

Taygin Dehart, a senior at Olympus High School, is the president of the Friend-2-Friend organization—a nonprofit organization that runs out of Olympus High School with participants from Skyline High School and their feeder middle schools. 

“There is like 250 of us and we usually invite the community to come out and serve with us,” she said. “We do an evening of service every year but this is the first year it’s been here.” 

“It has been great to be able to do service right here in our own community and see how it is helping, especially with such an unexpected event,” Dehart said.

Brooklyn Randle, another senior at Olympus High School and a member of Friend-2-Friend, said, “Having come here with my family over the years, it is so nice to really help him. This really is the meaning of community service and I am so grateful to be able to help the store and the sweet owner.”

Wunderli, director of Friend-2-Friend, a nonprofit 501C3 for five years now, said, “These kids are just amazing; they get so much done so quickly it’s just unbelievable. Numnuan is such a kind man and has always helped the community in any way he can. This has been great to see the community at large come together to help in the store during the day so that he can go and see his wife during the time the doctors are there.” 

Wunderli set up a schedule for volunteers to come to help out in the store and works with people from Friend-2-Friend, local friends, local ward members from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the community to keep the store open. They will continue to help in the store as needed through February as well. If you would like to help, contact Wunderli at [email protected].

Two other volunteers, Charlie and Rosemary Rowe, showed up to help Numnuan in the store and said they love being able to help such wonderful people and that it is nice to help give back to their own community.

If you would like to help, an account has been set up at US Bank, 1998 E. 4800 S., Holladay. To donate, just mention Sokha and Pawitt with Top It Frozen Yogurt Fund.