A few days ago I walked into an empty restaurant in Pinellas Park

The operator, a tiny Vietnamese woman with the brightest smile I’ve ever seen, told me she hadn’t had a customer in three hours…

I sat down. Ate. Talked to her. We laughed about the name of her place (Café Bich Nga - if you’ve seen the video, you know). She made my food herself. Whole ingredients and shortcuts. The way she’s been cooking her entire life (with love)

When I tried to pay, she refused.

I’m not exaggerating.. I had to leave cash on the counter and walk out the door before she would accept a tip from me

That’s Mrs. Lieng

I posted a video about her that night. It blew up. The next morning her restaurant was packed. The day after that, packed again. Lines out the door for the first time in I don’t know how long.

So I went back to see her. The staff was overjoyed. She hugged me. And then she sat down and told me her whole story.

She grew up in Vietnam. Built a thriving restaurant there long before she ever came to America. Her husband passed away in 2003

A few years ago she had a stroke bad enough that she lost her driver’s license over it but she never stopped working. She showed up the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, cooking every meal by hand for whoever walked through her door

Then she told me the part that wrecked me

She doesn’t have a home

Lieng the woman who refused to let me pay for my food, who runs a restaurant by herself well into her old age, who survived war, immigration, the loss of her husband, and a stroke…is homeless

I sat there and tried to make sense of it. I still can’t

This is the kind of woman who, if she was your grandma, you would move heaven and earth for. An immigrant who built a life from nothing. Who never asks for anything. Who gives free meals to strangers when her own restaurant is empty

So I’m asking on her behalf

This fund will cover 3 full years of rent for Mrs. Lieng in an apartment near her restaurant plus a security deposit, basic furnishing, and a buffer for utilities. We are not buying her a mansion. We are getting her four walls, a kitchen, and a door she can lock at night. The bare minimum she should already have

I’m a Christian. I believe the Lord put me in that restaurant for a reason. I believe the video went viral for a reason. I believe every door that has opened in the last week has opened because she deserves what comes next

She’s not asking. She wouldn’t

I am

Anything helps. $5, $50, $5,000. Share this with everyone you know.. your mom, your group chat, your church, anyone who believes good people deserve good things

If we hit the goal, Mrs. Lieng has a home for the next 3 years. Period

Let’s get her a house

100% of funds raised will go directly to Mrs. Lieng’s housing - rent, deposit, utilities, and move in costs. I will post updates with the apartment, the signed lease, and her settled in so you can see exactly where every dollar goes

God bless and thank you all!!