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Residents help ease woes of St. Albans widow, kids

By Bryan Schwartzman

Many southeast Queens residents have sent letters and thousands of dollars in donations to the widow of a St. Albans Chinese food takeout owner beaten to death while making a delivery in Springfield Gardens last month.

Bio Zuh Chen, 38, has received more than 400 condolence letters, the majority of them containing donations, following stories focusing on Chen and her two teen-age children's plight in the Times-Ledger and the Daily News.

Chen's husband, Jin Shen Liu, 44, was killed allegedly by five teenagers Sept. 1.

On Sept. 5 the teens were arrested and charged with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. Liu, the owner of the Golden Wok restaurant in St. Albans, was making a late-night delivery to an isolated dead-end street in Springfield Gardens when he was grabbed, punched, beaten with a brick, and left for dead by the five teens, police said.

The restaurant has been closed since the killing, and the family lost its only source of income. Chen told the Times-Ledger her main concern was finding suitable housing for her family, because she and her two children live in makeshift rooms behind the St. Albans' restaurant.

“He was my world,” Chen said.

While she is still battling grief and anger over her husband's death, it appears the generosity of so many New Yorkers will ease her financial stress.

Donations Chen has received include two gifts of $5,000, said Luther Mook, director of the Homecrest Community Services, a Brooklyn organization that caters mostly to the elderly Asian community.

Chen has gotten at least 15 donations from residents of St. Albans, Jamaica and Laurelton, Mook said.

“She is so grateful – she never expected this,” Mook said.

Mook, active in the Republican Party, expressed disappointment that no elected official had reached out to help Chen.

On Oct. 6, the day after the publication of the Times-Ledger story, he received a letter from the office of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) pledging assistance.

Homecrest Community Services has helped the family set up a bank account, but Mook did not identify the bank or the amount of money.

There is also progress in getting the family into city housing, Mook said. The mayor's Community Assistance Unit has been working to cut through the red tape and get the family into the Pomonok Houses in Flushing, he said.

The problem is that Chen, who does not speak English, desperately wants to live in Chinatown, where she has friends and can easily communicate.

Mook said Chen has received several job offers, but had to turn them down because of the language barrier. Mook said that after a 100-day Buddhist mourning period ends, Chen may enroll in English classes.

Chen's 18-year-old son Yonjie Liu attends Newtown High School in Elmhurst and her 16-year-old daughter Ziju Liu attends Hillcrest High School.

 

Reach reporter Bryan Schwartzman by e-mail at [email protected] or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.