GREEN RIVER — Sami and Ian Doak, owners of Stellar Coffee, were honored at the Green River City Council meeting Tuesday night with the 2024 Outstanding Citizen of the Quarter award.
“Sami and Ian Doak have shown an extraordinary ability to persevere through many facets of their lives, and yet they continue to give back and make a difference in their community,” Council Member Sherry Bushman said.
Bushman said the city is extremely grateful for Sami and Ian’s passion for helping community organizations reach their fundraising goals. The Doaks will often donate proceeds to different community groups. Bushman also said that the Doaks will make contributions themselves.
The award was a surprise to the Doaks, as they were simply told to come to the City Council meeting Tuesday night.
“I got a call with a request from the mayor for me and my family to come to the meeting, they didn’t tell us why. We assumed they wouldn’t ask us to bring our family to give us bad news or yell at us though,” Sami told SweetwaterNOW. “It’s an honor to be recognized like this.”
Sami said she and Ian have always been big community supporters, and try to attend community events, hold fundraisers, and help out where they can.
“We continue to do this with our son Brendon and are trying to teach him to help others when and how he can,” Sami said.
The desire to be active members of the community and help wherever possible comes from their own family’s tragedy where they experienced the community’s support in full force.
“After the accident where our grandma and daughter Stella died, the community was amazing. Not only with fundraisers to help us financially but just the support of being there in our grief and healing. We are so lucky to live in a community that supports and hold each other up, in the good times and the bad,” she said.
Stellar Coffee was created to help Sami and Ian heal and remember their daughter, and now they are able to use the business to return the support they received. The Doaks also give a lot of credit to their employees who share the same passion for community involvement.
“We are so lucky that we were able to create Stellar Coffee to help us heal and remember Stella, and now be able to use the business to give back to our community,” Sami said. “We couldn’t have given back as much without our past and present employees, they are truly amazing we are so lucky to have them. We’ve talked about moving in the past, but I honestly couldn’t imagine living and raising our son somewhere other than Green River, this community is the best.”
