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also is fueled by a desire to give back and maintain a balanced perspective when negative things happen. He helps raise funds for Good Samaritan Ministries, a social services center in Jerusalem for families in crisis. Saker also supports Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights and serves on the board of the Arab American Cultural Center of Oregon.

He credits a professor from college as a mentor who taught him how to be hum-ble yet confident, to believe and trust in himself. And thanks to Facebook, the two reconnected when Saker realized his for-mer teacher, now 73, lives in Southern California and paid him a visit. “Every day is a new day,” says Saker. “Life is short, and in my time here, I want to know, inside of me, that I’ve worked hard, that I’m proud of what I’ve accom-plished and that I’ve tried to work toward justice in day-to-day life, in what ways I can.”

When it comes to food, the Middle East conjures up thoughts of decadent pastries: baklava, dripping with honey; ma’amoul, plump with date and pista-chio fillings and dusted with powdered sugar; Hab el hal, or cardamom cookies; Turkish Delight, also called lokum; and sesame doughnuts. Make that donuts.

Sesame Donuts was founded by Said Fakih in 1999, in Raleigh Hills, at the site of a former Dunkin’ Donuts franchise that Fakih bought in 1987, after moving to Portland from Southern California. The shop is named after his Uncle Mohammad’s doughnut recipe, one that had sesame seeds inside the dough. Fakih played with the recipe to make it more like traditional American doughnuts, cer-tain he “could figure out how to roast sesame seeds, then put them on top of the cake dough.”

Experimentation in the kitchen led to success: The sweet treats with Middle Eastern flair were a hit, prompting Fakih and his large extended family to buy and operate shops in Sherwood and Hillsboro. While a staff of 30 helps to run the three restaurants, Fakih still can be found at the Raleigh Hills location on most mornings at 5 a.m., baking dough-nuts and baklava and getting the shop ready for a steady stream of regular cus-tomers he knows by name and considers friends.

“I like to please people, to see cus-tomers — individuals, families, children — smiling when they leave the shop, to offer them a simple doughnut and see satisfaction on their faces,” says Fakih. “And if they come back, I know I’ve delivered on what I set out to do.”

In addition to sesame doughnuts, Fakih sells the more typical kind. Sales can be as high as $800 on a weekday, with another $400 each day of the week-end. Baking is done on site at the Raleigh Hills store, along with the sesame seed roasting. His 82-year-old father, Habib, helps run the Raleigh Hills store; his mother-in-law, Zeinab, and three of Fakih’s four children help their dad at the shop on weekends.

“I have many blessings in my life to be thankful for,” says Fakih. “My family, my friends, good health, a business that enables me to sustain my family – I am lucky.”

And industrious.

Fakih was born and raised in Sierra Leone, although his family originally is from Lebanon. He immigrated to Southern California in 1979 at the age of 17 and worked in his uncle’s Dunkin’ Donuts franchise in Torrance, Calif., put-ting himself through college at California State University Dominguez Hills. Continuing in the doughnut business has led to success for Fakih and his fam-ily and has enabled him, along with his brothers, to put several of their children through college and to care for their par-ents. Among his many mentors, the standouts are his father and his Uncle “Mo.”

“I learned persistence from my father, and tenacity,” says Fakih. “He’s lived in three continents and overcome incredible odds —wars, hardship. He has taught me to carry on, to persist.

“And my uncle was someone I could always go to for advice on big decisions, like buying the Dunkin’ Donuts fran-chise, probably my best business deci-sion. It’s thanks to them that I’ve been able to do this,” says Fakih.

Armed with an infectious sense of humor and a commitment to integrity, honesty and offering the highest quality product to customers, Fakih relishes his time with customers, who have shared stories about their life’s journeys and who Fakih considers an extension of his family.

If Fakih has one regret, it’s that he wasn’t able to continue with his educa-tion after earning his bachelor’s degree. But that pales in comparison to his grati-tude for what he has. Fakih believes that he has a responsibility to give back, which he does by coaching local soccer teams and, like Nouredine and Saker, serving on the board of the Arab American Cultural Center of Oregon. “My father has a saying, ‘If your plate is full, cut some of it and give it to oth-ers,” says Fakih. “I guess you could say that’s my philosophy for life and busi-ness: If you’re kind from the heart, it will come back to you.”

he Decorette Shop in Tigard is a baker’s or candymaker’s dream come true, carrying everything from chocolate molds to cake toppers, from gumpaste flowers to edible glitter. “It’s the largest inven-tory in — I know the state — I’d probably say even the Northwest,” says Michelle Blake, who has worked at The Decorette Shop for about a year. She adds: “It sounds hokey, but it’s the one-stop cake and candy supply shop.” It has taken years to build The Decorette Shop’s nearly-all-inclu-

sive inventory. The Tigard shop was opened in 1982 by Michelle’s in-laws, Phil and Donna Blake, who based their business on a model already proven suc-cessful: the east Portland Decorette Shop. The east-side shop had been founded 10 years earlier by Phil’s mother, a profes-sional baker.

“Grandma Blake,” Michelle says, “got tired of not being able to find cake deco-

rating items, so she and her husband decided, ‘Hey, we can do this, provide all those things I’ve been trying to find for years.’”

Today, the east- and west-side shops operate independently, sharing only a name. Phil and Donna Blake are still the

owners of The Decorette Shop in Tigard, although Michelle and her husband, John, will take over own-ership in the near future. “I think it’s an honor that my husband and I get to keep it going and hope-fully pass it on to other family members; there are not too many family busi-nesses like this anymore,” Michelle says.

Before becoming engrossed in the family business, Michelle liked to make cakes but wouldn’t have called herself a baker. “I never real-ized there was so much to cake decorating and candy making,” she says.

Customers often have the same reac-tion to The Decorette Shop as Michelle did. Michelle hears almost daily: “I never