Tooele Restaurant Raises Thousands For Haynie Family

TOOELE, Utah – Customers come to Chubby’s Neighborhood Café for the food, the convenience and, for one day, crowds came into the Tooele restaurant for the remaining members of the Haynie family.

“That’s why we’re here,” said customer Jennifer Paxman, who has spent most of her life in Grantsville. “It’s been really hard.”

Like most of the people who entered Chubby’s Monday, Paxman has never met the Haynie family. And, like her neighbors, she’ll likely never make sense of the tragedy in her Grantsville community.

“You kind of feel like, what can you do for the family,” she said.

So when the new Chubby’s location in Tooele announced that all of its profits on Monday would go to the Haynie family, she and hundreds of others couldn’t pass up an opportunity to support their own during a heartbreaking time.

“It’s just really tragic. I mean, it really hits home when it’s so close to home,” said customer Ted Rockwell, who brought the whole family. “You always hear about it somewhere else and never think it’s going to happen here.”

Chubby’s owner Joe Moak said they made the move to Tooele 10 months ago. But in the days that followed the horrific shooting in nearby Grantsville, he knew he had to do more for the family that lost four of its members.

“I could only donate so much out of my own pocket,” Moak said. “It’s just so awesome to see all the support for the family that not everybody knows but they know because they live in this community. Does that make sense?”

In the wake of the shooting, the outpouring of love from the community may just be the only thing that makes sense.

“I think it’s going to take a while to heal from this,” Paxman said.

When the last meal was purchased and the final customer had gone, Moak added up their profits, totaling up to more than $3,776 for the Haynie family.