A lonely widow took in migrants for free at her failing Denver motel. Hundreds now have a warm, safe place to sleep and are showering her with gratitude.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Like a lot of cities, Denver is struggling to keep up with tens of thousands of migrants looking for opportunity after crossing the southwestern border. The city has expanded its network of shelters, but it is not enough. Tent colonies have sprung up on streets and parks and public spaces where people try to survive frigid Rocky Mountain winter nights. Recently, a lonely widow opened her door to help, and now about 300 people have found sanctuary. Colorado Public Radio’s Kevin Beaty has her story.
(SOUNDBITE OF BREAKFAST SIZZLING)
YONG CHA PRINCE: Pedro (ph), did you eat?
KEVIN BEATY, BYLINE: Yong Cha Prince, aged 73, has been up since dawn, as usual, making breakfast for guests staying in her old motel in north Denver.
PRINCE: I get up 4 o’clock in the morning, make coffee, make egg, bagel, bacon and cheese.
BEATY: Prince has done this for decades. She and her husband bought the Western Motor Inn on Vasquez Boulevard in 2007. He died a few years ago, as did her son after battling cancer. She’s been preparing to shut this motel down, go back to her childhood home of South Korea and live as a missionary. Business wasn’t very good, and she says she was painfully lonely.
PRINCE: I miss my family, I think.
BEATY: But a few weeks ago, a stranger showed up in the middle of the night. Christina Asuncion, a private investigator and Denver native, was at a nearby convenience store where she’d met six boys from Venezuela. They’d been sleeping outside, so she brought them shivering to the Western Motor Inn.
CHRISTINA ASUNCION: She was so good. She opened her door. I was so afraid that she was gonna say no because I had been sitting at 7/11 for five hours calling people, asking people to help.
BEATY: Prince said they could stay for free. Asuncion took the boys to…
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