To customers who patronize Welsh Donuts most mornings, the familiar faces often seated at a table near the front door are practically part of the local donut shop’s decor.

Three days a week, the familiar group of ladies meet at the donut shop, greeting each other with hugs and smiles, then sitting around the table sipping coffee, eating donuts and biscuits and greeting customers with a friendly “Good morning” as they enter the shop.

Over the next three hours, women will come and go.

They talk about the weather, grandchildren, the latest book they’ve read, a trip they took or sampling the latest kolache, croissant or other pastry.

They all have different nationalities, personalities and opinions, but the weekly meetings are where they all cross paths and catch up.

Longtime member Judy Freeland, who moved to Welsh from Cape Cod, Mass., said most of the group has known each other for years and many knew each other’s husbands before joining the group.

“We are just a bunch of old ladies who wanted something to do,” member Shirley Todd said. “We used to have a table full, but we’ve had three members that died and two that are in nursing homes now. This is what’s left. We plan to keep meeting as long as we can.”

“A couple of us here are drawing a fine line,” member Beverly Cormier jokes in a thick Boston accent.

Cormier, who came to Welsh from Massachusetts with her husband more than 40 years ago, keeps the group laughing with what she says is her gift of gab. She is the group’s second member from Massachusetts, but takes pride in being the group’s only Italian.

“I think we all have been through some hard times,” Cormier said. “Everybody has their problems, but we have to have some laughter and we have that here.

“It’s so nice to just sit and be ourselves,” she continued. “We sit here and try to solve the problems of the world while we are mulching down on the best biscuits and donuts around.”

Friendships have blossomed through the group which includes retirement aged women, widows and grandmothers. The group also welcomes newcomers to the community to join them.

“It’s open to anybody that wants to join,” Cormier said. “We all have something to offer and we are together because we understand each other.”

Meeting in a public place allows the group to get out of their house, see all kinds of people they know and make new friends.

“It’s a small town so we know everybody,” Todd said. “And if we don’t know you, we will.”

Like clockwork, the group arrives as owner Kim Chinh is busy with the breakfast rush. Chinh runs the donut shop with her husband, Ponleu Hun, and her father  – all from Cambodia.

Chinh has gotten to know the group of ladies well over the years, forming a special bond. She and her husband were married at Freeland’s house and the group threw her a baby shower for their son Harry, who is now almost two years old.

“We kind of adopted them,” Todd said. “They are just like our family.”

“They are beautiful people,” Chinh said of the women in her broken Cambodian dialect.. “We love them so much. They have supported us a lot, especially during the pandemic.”

The group has shared milestones in the couple’s lives, like when Harry was born and when he took his first steps.

“We’re all his mamas,” Welsh native Ramona Peoples said.

Peoples, who is the group’s youngest member at 61, said she enjoys meeting with the group and helping her friends out. Peoples jokes that she is the group’s official chauffeur, often driving members out to eat, shopping or to doctor appointments.

“We’re just friends,” she said. “And Miss Judy is like our Walmart greeter. Everybody that comes in she says good morning to. For some people that come in, hearing that good morning just perks them up.”

Adda Cline, who is originally from Mexico, has been a part of the group since it started.

“A couple of us just started the group and just kept adding more and more,” Cline said. “We were doing aerobics at the time, but when they quit we started coming here. We just became a part of this place.”

Becky Hudson, a retired teacher who moved to Welsh from Colorado, said the group works because they are so different and come from so many places. Hudson was Peoples’  teacher.

The group meets at 9 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Welsh Donuts, 619 East Russell Avenue in Welsh.