PINELLAS PARK, FL \u2014 What started as a simple meal at a restaurant he’d never been to before turned into a mission to change the life of an 85-year-old Pinellas Park restaurant operator after Tampa influencer Julian Becerra learned she was homeless. <\/p>\n
After learning that Lieng Le, who runs Caf\u00e9 B\u00edch Nga in Pinellas Park, was sleeping in the restaurant\u2019s lobby, he raised nearly $200,000 through GoFundMe<\/a> to help rent her a home.<\/p>\n The funds should cover about three years of rent, as well as the purchase of all the day-to-day items she might need and a small monthly stipend, Becerra told Patch.<\/p>\n Find out what’s happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.<\/p>\n City Furniture is also donating $10,000 worth of home furnishings to Le, and the money raised is being held for her in a trust managed by the nonprofit Helping Hands Ministries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the craziest things that\u2019s ever happened in my life,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Find out what’s happening in St. Petefor free with the latest updates from Patch.<\/p>\n On April 23, Becerra planned to grab a bite to eat at his favorite \u201chole-in-the-wall restaurant\u201d near his Tampa home and make a video about the experience. <\/p>\n \u201cJust to bring them a little attention. It\u2019s a restaurant I always go to, and they were supposed to be open, but they were closed,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I went to another that I sometimes go to around my house, and they were also closed an hour early, randomly.\u201d <\/p>\n He keeps a running list of restaurants he\u2019d like to try, and while looking it over that day, landed on Caf\u00e9 B\u00edch Nga<\/a>. <\/p>\n It\u2019s about a 35-minute drive from his house, and its Google Business profile listed the restaurant as closed that day. <\/p>\n \u201cIt said they were closed online, but for some reason, I called anyway, and I was met with Lieng on the phone. She said, \u2018Come in, come in, come in,\u2019\u201d Becerra said. \u201cSo, I went to this restaurant with this funny-sounding name. But no one had ever made a video or content on how good the food was; they just made content on how funny the name was.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s pronounced “Bit Nya,\u201d Le said in the first video that Becerra shared to Instagram about the eatery. A \u201cbeautiful name for [a] woman,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n He was surprised to find the restaurant empty when he walked in and even more surprised to learn it had been hours since Le and her staff had seen a customer. <\/p>\n So, Becerra chatted with her about the restaurant, recording his conversation with her. He was also wowed by his meal, cooked by Le. <\/p>\n \u201cShe was so good, kind-spirited about it all \u2026 She wouldn\u2019t even let us pay for our meal, let alone let us tip her. We had to forcibly give her a tip,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n That evening, he posted a video of his experience on Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd it blew up, even just overnight, it got tons of views, more than any of my other videos,\u201d Becerra said. <\/p>\n He returned to Caf\u00e9 B\u00edch Nga several days later and learned that business had picked up since he posted the video. <\/p>\n During this visit, he chatted with Le some more and learned that she was homeless. Though she initially told him she was staying with friends, Becerra later learned she had been sleeping at the restaurant. <\/p>\n \u201cI think she was embarrassed and that\u2019s why she first said she was staying with friends,\u201d he said. \u201cWhere people sit in, like, their lobby area, as far as her waiting area, it turns into a bed. And she showed me it turning out into a bed, and she brought me in the back where she has all her stuff and clothes and whatnot. It was kind of sad to see all that. It wrecked me.\u201d<\/p>\n This was when he decided he would help Le get a home of her own and launched the GoFundMe fundraiser for her. <\/p>\n Originally from Vietnam, she ran a thriving restaurant there before moving to the U.S. Her husband died more than two decades ago in 2003, though she has extended family in the region. <\/p>\n While Le knew that Becerra has raised some money for her, she doesn\u2019t know the extent of his plans for finding her a home. <\/p>\n \u201cThe plan now is to handle everything on the backend, including making sure that her utilities, her rent, all that stuff is paid for, and then just handing her over keys to the house,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Then comes the last step: taking her home to Vietnam to see her family.<\/p>\n \u201cShe hasn\u2019t been in years,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cI was asking on my last visit [to the restaurant] if she wanted to go and she was like, \u2018No, it\u2019s too expensive. I would love to go, but it\u2019s too expensive.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He plans to accompany her on this trip. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been to Vietnam myself, so it will be cool to go with her and go see her original restaurant, visit her hometown, where she grew up, all that cool stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s the next arc to all this, but that\u2019s after we give her the keys to the house.\u201d<\/p>\n Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.<\/a><\/p>\n