Immigrants’ Stories Seldom Heard, But Community-Building Efforts Speak Loudly
Photo by Patrick Jones
Patrick Jones | Contributing Writer
Yeng-Ping Peng, who goes by her self-chosen American name “Grace,” is a Taiwanese immigrant, a former business owner and a friend to anyone who’s fortunate enough to cross her path.
Grace is a recently retired restaurateur who has owned four restaurants in the Dayton area. Her most recent being Ginger and Spice Asian Bistro on Brown Street, which she opened in 2015.
She’s worked as the full-time sous chef in all the restaurants she’s owned, her full time kitchen staff only consisted of her, a chef and one supporting role. She is not a trained entrepreneur nor a trained cook. Though neither of those facts has kept her from doing both successfully.
By herself, Grace immigrated to the Dayton area in 1988. She came to join her husband whom she’d recently married in Taiwan where they met. Her husband’s family was already in Dayton and needed help running the restaurant they owned.
Grace had little to say about her immigration process.
“Smooth,” is all she said. She did everything by the law of the time. So, she held a green card for three years until she took her citizenship exam, which she passed on her first try.
Before Grace immigrated and while she was still in school, it was required to be taught English. When in her seventh-grade English class she and her classmates were asked to select an English name, Yeng-Ping Peng chose “Grace” because Grace Kelly was her favorite actress. Grace struggled to remember her favorite movies featuring the star, but she assured that if a movie of Kelly’s was on TV, it was going to stay on. As the former Yeng-Ping Peng matured, she remained a fan of Kelly’s but the introspective meaning of her name shifted. “Grace” resonated with her in the biblical sense of the word, as she explained, “Grace is God’s unmerited favor.”
Grace’s process of immigrating may have been smooth, her time in America has not always been so. Soon after rejoining her husband to run the restaurant, Grace became pregnant with her first child. As she put it, “I need to help, I can’t just sit down at home.” Due to that necessity Grace’s mom came over from Taiwan to help take care of Grace’s child while she and her husband worked to create the life they dreamed of, the one America advertises.
What isn’t advertised is the culture shock America-or any new country-can bring. Even when joined by her mother it still did not make America home. Home was still Taiwan, the only country she ever knew. She missed the markets, the food and the produce that was unique to Taiwan’s tropical climate. In the 80’s and 90’s you’d be hard-pressed to find international grocery stores that carried things as niche as a wax apple or gai-lan (Chinese broccoli). No longer could she buy the food that felt like home. She was stuck with only what this foreign land she found herself in had to offer.
But failing was no option for Grace. She believes it is through “dedication and perseverance, [that] our efforts will eventually bear the fruit of success.” It’s this mentality that has led to Grace’s success and overcoming the cultural demands of a new nation. And luckily, the number of international grocery stores adjusted in the right direction too. Past culture shock, Grace has experienced failure in her career. Due to her language barrier it was difficult for her to elaborate in great detail on what these failures were. But she wants it to be known failure is not something to be “afraid” of, but something to embrace and grow from.
Retirement has not even been a consideration for Grace until this past year. The physical demands of her work began to be too great. No longer was her body able to recover from a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. work day. So, just in this last year, she started to plan the end of her career. An end that culminated in her selling Ginger and Spice Asian Bistro to a young-immigrant from China in March.
When asked what she misses about work, Grace only mentioned her customers, people who became her friends over the many years they came back to eat her food and experience the warmth of her restaurants. That is what Grace misses. She believed you should “treat customers like they will always know.”
As Grace begins her life after work, she can look back on her success and unwavering work ethic with a smile. She plans on doing a few things in her newfound free time. The first is gardening. If you know Grace, or have been to any of her restaurants, you’ve seen the beautiful flowers she grows and displays. She has quite the green thumb. The next to-do on her list will be to visit her adult children and their kids. Grace’s work life has made it difficult to spend as much time with them as she’d like to. And lastly, Grace is long overdue for a return home to Taiwan. In her 40-years in the states she’s only been back twice. She’ll visit family and enjoy the place she once knew as home.
Editor’s Note: Grace’s story is one that is unique to her, of course, but common in its theme. This brief glimpse into her life comes to you all at the tail end of the second Trump administration’s year-plus long battle on an immigration “invasion” that has seen America’s net migration drop to between negative 10,000 and negative 295,000, according to the Brookings Institution. For reference, net migration has not been negative in over half a century. It’s difficult to find transparent statistics on the issue. The government’s reporting is said by many to be inflated or deflated and independent groups’ findings are conflicting with each other as well. Regardless, a negative 295,000 net migration, if true, would be a record low.
Despite this, it’s safe to say an extremely high number of people are being repatriated from our nation for varying reasons, legal or illegal. This creates uncertainty for all immigrant populations whatever their citizenship status. Dayton is doing all it can to support its immigrant population. Entities such as the city’s Welcome Dayton and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce are just two of those groups that help to represent the city’s immigrants.
In addition to that, Stephanie Keinath of the chamber shared two important statistics about immigrants in our area. First, in 2019 in Montgomery County alone, immigrants make up roughly 8% of business owners while only being 4% of the county’s population. Second, from 2014-2019 the population of Montgomery County decreased by .5% but the immigrant population grew by 21.6%. Both of these statistics were confirmed by the American Immigration Council’s 2022 report. Population decreases are seldom a good thing, and if not for immigrants moving in Dayton is likely to have seen a further population decrease and likely economic decline. These statistics are the most recent measurements there are on Montgomery County’s immigrant population.
Welcome Dayton aims to help immigrants by facilitating connections for immigrants new to the city. Connections include helping immigrants find work, places to live, affordable English classes and more. Jeannette Horwitz, from Welcome Dayton, said the organization has seen a rise in requests for English classes and legal aid over the last year. She said that in the same time span, a handful of immigrant business owners have reported a decrease in business. These examples are anecdotal, she said, but may be connected to negative media reports focused on immigrants.
Welcome Dayton and the chamber are supportive of immigrants and provide examples why immigrants such as Grace who work and own businesses and participate in local politices, are integral to the community. Welcome Dayton’s Website.
* Welcome Dayton’s World Refugee Day Celebration at Dayton Metro Library (Main)
Saturday, June 27, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Downtown Dayton
* Dayton World Soccer Games
Saturday, Sept. 12, 8a.m. – 10 p.m., Kettering Field Sports Complex, 444 N. Bend Blvd., Kettering
AI Note: Generative AI, specifically ChatGPT, was used during the interview process to help Grace translate Mandarin to English. Also, this reporter has been an employee at Ginger and Spice Asian Bistro since September 2024.