He was one of the 'boat people' who fled from Vietnam in the 1980's. Now he's a successful business owner who wants to help others coming to Winnipeg.

Tam Nguyen fled from Vietnam when he was in his 20's. He and a few others bought a boat together and left the country, heading towards Malaysia. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to sail across an ocean. Only one was a fisherman, so he knew how to operate the small boat.

"We almost died at the mouth of the [rvier]," Nguyen remembers.

Nguyen spent more than five days on the ocean before making it to their destination. He didn't know if he would survive, so Nguyen says he prayed. He promised that, if he made it, he would do whatever he could to help.

"If I survived, I would help others," said Nguyen as he recalled his story.

Now a Winnipegger for more than 30 years, Nguyen is a tailor and owns Tam Custom Tailor, located on Ellice Avenue. His niece is the owner of Pho Binh Minh, a Vietnamese restaurant. And tomorrow, October 31, Pho Binh Minh is hosting a Halloween Lunch Fundraiser for Naomi House.

"[Naomi House] is transitional housing," said James Leschied, the Director of Naomi House, which just recently opened on Ellice and is a ministry of City Church. "[We] help them get on their feet in terms of finding employment, finding a place to live, paperwork skills prior to working."

Leschied says that Nguyen walked into Naomi House shortly after it was opened and offered on behalf of his niece to help. Nguyen said it was very important for him to help.

"I'm a refugee, I always love the refugees," Nguyen said. "[But] without the local people help, we'd be stuck, we'd be in trouble."

"God has called us to love our neighbour as ourselves," Leschied described the reason behind Naomi House. "There's a special place in God's house for the stranger, the foreigner."

The Halloween Lunch Fundraiser will happen on Tuesday, October 31 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Pho Binh Minh Restaurant, located at 819 Sargent Avenue.

Join them for an authentic Vietnamese lunch with all sale proceeds going to Naomi House.