BLAIR COUNTY (WTAJ) — If you walk into Donut Connection in Hollidaysburg on any given morning you will find coffee, hot sandwiches, donuts and the regulars.

Bob Reeder is a regular at the shop and shows up every morning for his usual.

“25 years,” Reeder said. “We are the regulars. They know what I am getting as soon as my truck pulls in.”

Reeder’s usual order is a decaf coffee and a lemon filled donut. He then takes it to a table with a group of people for good conversation and company.

“It gets us moving,” Reeder explained. “It gets us all out in the morning and then we set our day.”

The regulars, who are now being featured on Donut Connection’s Facebook page, have made the business their home away from home.

“If they’re out for a week or something, we miss them and we check in on them,” Stephanie Wills, the general manager at Donut Connection in Hollidaysburg, said.

Some customers have been coming to the restaurant for decades. Just ask the store manager, Trudy Lohsl. She has been working at the business for almost 35 years.

“This is my life,” Lohsl said. “I have been here since the very beginning.”

Lohsl knows all of the regulars and has their orders memorized.

“I know what they are getting when they get out of the car,” Lohsl explained.

“I feel like staff is the heart of a place,” Wills said. “We keep it pumping. We keep it going, but I feel like the customers are the soul. They bring the energy and the personality and that is what these customers do.”

Dure Litzenberger sits in the same booth every day. It’s where she has made a lot of memories. Most of which include her late husband Melvin.

“My husband and I came here so much,” Litzenberger, said. “We were here every day. This was Melvin and I’s spot.”

“I asked the owner if I could get a sign put here that says in memory of Melvin Litzenberger,” she explained. “And he said I think we can work something out.”

Morning or afternoon, the regulars find this place to be the highlight of their day.

“We want it to be a community,” Wills said. “I mean that’s why we are here. Donuts and coffee make people happy and we want to be beyond that.”

It’s more than coffee and donuts. It’s a community, a second home, a place to talk, smile, and make memories.

“This is their place,” Lohsl said. “This is my place.”

Many of the regulars have been coming before it was even a Donut Connection. We’re told over the years the business has been a Mister Donut, then a Dunkin’ before becoming what it is today.

Reach out to Maggie Smolka if you know someone or an organization that’s making it matter in the community. You can email msmolka@wtajtv.com or message her on Facebook.