((PKG)) HOMELESS MILLIONAIRE
((Banner: Paying It Forward))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Dmitrii Vershinin, Natalia
Latukhina))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((VOA Russian))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I am so happy I was homeless and I don’t have nothing and I start
from nothing that day. Because if I had something, I would not be
who I am today, I believe.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Hakki Akdeniz, an ethnic Kurd from Turkey,
made his way to New York in 2001 with $240 in his pocket))
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie
Hi Jessie. How are you? How are you feeling, baby? It’s me
again.
You made my day.
Oh, I like the blanket, the black one. That’s the one that I brought
for you? Yeah, that’s good. It’s warm, yeah?))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
Because those days, I learned so much to be better, to have a
good heart. And after 10 years later, I find myself to be who I am
today.
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie
And why do they scare you though?))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I come over here with a huge dream, with a big hope, but a lot of
things go wrong. That moment when you become homeless,
that’s what I said, that’s what I want to support them. And when
you don’t have nothing, you don’t have even family, you don’t
have friends, everybody like turns their face. They don’t want to
see you. They don’t want to answer their phone. I met one guy.
His name is Ronnie from Senegal. And he told me about The
Bowery Mission. There’s a shelter. You go there. You sleep
there. They teach you a little Bible and, you know.
((NATS: Hakki
There was people sleeping on the second floor too long?
No. Only four or five.))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
That’s where I used to sleep over here, you know that?
25 to 30 people there were sleeping in my area. In the morning,
we wake up like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock to go get a breakfast and
after that, we could go out, come back for lunch. After 10 pm, you
cannot get in. And it was just like, smooth.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I was good on the street, making money. I was not good at
school and I told my son, you know, like I want you to be really
good in school. “Daddy, how about you? You were good?” I said,
“No son, I was not good. That’s why I want you to be good.”
When I was a little kid, I have like my box. My first business. I
have a box like a lighter, pens, gum. After that, I was doing like
shoeshine. And sometimes in the morning, I used to sell like
Lahmacun, Turkish Lahmacun. It’s pizza but it’s a thin crust they
call Lahmacun. It’s not about what we are today. It’s what can
we be tomorrow.
((Popup Banner: Akdeniz got jobs working in New York
pizzarias. After years of saving, he opened his own tiny pizza
place))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
How I made my first store. I sleep in the store for five days, six
days, I swear to you. Only one or two days, I used to go sleep in
my worker’s home. Then later on in April, I believe it was April, in
PMQ Magazine, I think somewhere over here I have PMQ
Magazine. So, they put me on the cover. So, I go in front of the
school and I just give those magazines to kids. I just, you know,
give it to them. And those kids, they go home and they show their
parents. And the next day, I become a little busy, a little busy.
And one week, two weeks, I become so busy. So, those kids,
they bring magazine and they get me to sign autograph for them.
I never forget that.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
Always I play with, you know, dough, 29 years. And I think like
what can we do something that no one ever done, crazy, to make
everybody, wow! I tried to do flaming dough.
Step one, wet the dough. Grab the dough. Spin the pizza and
step back, you know, so you don’t get confused and flame and
dough, same thing. When there’s the flame, I burned like my
carpet. My first apartment, my carpet was on fire. Really, really,
it was on fire. And then my wife, she got angry. She said, “You
know, one day you are going to burn the house.” I said, “Honey,
it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I won the championship because
of that.”
((NATS
Single file, please!
Thank you.))
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
One day, I want to open up a restaurant with people that graduate
from that kitchen. So, those people that are going to graduate
from my kitchen and those kitchens are going to be built by
homeless people. And the chef is going to homeless. The
manager is going to be homeless. The cook in back, like the line
cook is going to be homeless. I want to have one kitchen, a big
restaurant. I want to make like one of the best restaurants with a
shelter, training center and then create like a job for homeless.
And you know what? This is easy. It’s possible. If I put in my
heart, anything is possible. You just got to believe it.
Dream is not about money. Dream about what you want to leave.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
We make money, you know, we give it back.
((NATS))
((Banner: Paying It Forward))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Dmitrii Vershinin, Natalia
Latukhina))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((VOA Russian))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I am so happy I was homeless and I don’t have nothing and I start
from nothing that day. Because if I had something, I would not be
who I am today, I believe.
((NATS))
((Popup Banner: Hakki Akdeniz, an ethnic Kurd from Turkey,
made his way to New York in 2001 with $240 in his pocket))
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie
Hi Jessie. How are you? How are you feeling, baby? It’s me
again.
You made my day.
Oh, I like the blanket, the black one. That’s the one that I brought
for you? Yeah, that’s good. It’s warm, yeah?))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
Because those days, I learned so much to be better, to have a
good heart. And after 10 years later, I find myself to be who I am
today.
((NATS: Hakki and Jessie
And why do they scare you though?))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I come over here with a huge dream, with a big hope, but a lot of
things go wrong. That moment when you become homeless,
that’s what I said, that’s what I want to support them. And when
you don’t have nothing, you don’t have even family, you don’t
have friends, everybody like turns their face. They don’t want to
see you. They don’t want to answer their phone. I met one guy.
His name is Ronnie from Senegal. And he told me about The
Bowery Mission. There’s a shelter. You go there. You sleep
there. They teach you a little Bible and, you know.
((NATS: Hakki
There was people sleeping on the second floor too long?
No. Only four or five.))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
That’s where I used to sleep over here, you know that?
25 to 30 people there were sleeping in my area. In the morning,
we wake up like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock to go get a breakfast and
after that, we could go out, come back for lunch. After 10 pm, you
cannot get in. And it was just like, smooth.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
I was good on the street, making money. I was not good at
school and I told my son, you know, like I want you to be really
good in school. “Daddy, how about you? You were good?” I said,
“No son, I was not good. That’s why I want you to be good.”
When I was a little kid, I have like my box. My first business. I
have a box like a lighter, pens, gum. After that, I was doing like
shoeshine. And sometimes in the morning, I used to sell like
Lahmacun, Turkish Lahmacun. It’s pizza but it’s a thin crust they
call Lahmacun. It’s not about what we are today. It’s what can
we be tomorrow.
((Popup Banner: Akdeniz got jobs working in New York
pizzarias. After years of saving, he opened his own tiny pizza
place))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
How I made my first store. I sleep in the store for five days, six
days, I swear to you. Only one or two days, I used to go sleep in
my worker’s home. Then later on in April, I believe it was April, in
PMQ Magazine, I think somewhere over here I have PMQ
Magazine. So, they put me on the cover. So, I go in front of the
school and I just give those magazines to kids. I just, you know,
give it to them. And those kids, they go home and they show their
parents. And the next day, I become a little busy, a little busy.
And one week, two weeks, I become so busy. So, those kids,
they bring magazine and they get me to sign autograph for them.
I never forget that.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
Always I play with, you know, dough, 29 years. And I think like
what can we do something that no one ever done, crazy, to make
everybody, wow! I tried to do flaming dough.
Step one, wet the dough. Grab the dough. Spin the pizza and
step back, you know, so you don’t get confused and flame and
dough, same thing. When there’s the flame, I burned like my
carpet. My first apartment, my carpet was on fire. Really, really,
it was on fire. And then my wife, she got angry. She said, “You
know, one day you are going to burn the house.” I said, “Honey,
it’s okay. Don’t worry. You see, I won the championship because
of that.”
((NATS
Single file, please!
Thank you.))
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
One day, I want to open up a restaurant with people that graduate
from that kitchen. So, those people that are going to graduate
from my kitchen and those kitchens are going to be built by
homeless people. And the chef is going to homeless. The
manager is going to be homeless. The cook in back, like the line
cook is going to be homeless. I want to have one kitchen, a big
restaurant. I want to make like one of the best restaurants with a
shelter, training center and then create like a job for homeless.
And you know what? This is easy. It’s possible. If I put in my
heart, anything is possible. You just got to believe it.
Dream is not about money. Dream about what you want to leave.
((NATS))
((Hakki Akdeniz, Entrepreneur/Philanthropist))
We make money, you know, we give it back.
((NATS))
