ANAHEIM, Calif. – In a time when things feel unfamiliar and stand far apart, there’s a comfort in things that can still bring us closer together.

David Fujimura and his wife Erica, who own Lit Cafe in Anaheim, are doing their best to bake some comfort into their community.

“We know a lot of our regulars are having trouble finding stuff in the store so we try to help them out,” said Daivd Fujimura.

With bread getting picked through at almost any market you go to, they decided to provide a free loaf to their customers who purchase two meals.

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“It’s low cost. It’s super easy. So we decided you know what, let’s give out free bread or help people,” David said.

To do that, they got a low-cost recipe locally, from their pastor at Saddleback Church - it requires no eggs or milk.

Bread itself reached a peak popularity of 100 on Google Trends with the pandemic forcing many people to stay home.

But David and Erica are a small business trying to survive. Lunch hours have become a thing of the past - as the coronavirus pandemic trickles down into every aspect of the work force.

“We’ve been trying to make the best out of the situation as we can but more trying to take the eyes off ourselves and focus on our employees,” David said.

Both David and Erica went to the Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, and worked their entire careers to open Lit a year ago. 

With take-out and delivery options only, business has declined 80% and has forced them to cut costs somewhere. But rather than cut employees hours, they’ve decided to work for free - so that they can still pay loyal employees like Jairo - who recently became a citizen.

“Happy, because right now it’s slow everywhere. A lot of friends lose their job,” Jairo said.

David hopes they’ll be able to get a small business loan, as part of the $480 billion relief package that was approved following the $2 trillion federal stimulus package.

For now though, they hope to stay afloat amid these uncertain times - relying on their faith to pull them through.

“Trust me, we could sell it. We could totally sell this bread. But we said you know what, in the spirit of giving and what our church teaches us, let’s go ahead and pay it forward,” said David.

Helping the community - no matter how far apart - break bread.