Restore 22 Coffee Shop Gives Veterans a Place to Find Connection, Camaraderie and Resources

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

On Veterans Day, Restore 22 Coffee Shop opened its doors to local veterans, giving them a sneak peek at their new gathering place.

The walls are painted olive drab, but the mood was light and cheerful as former service members and their families, along with volunteers and community partners, filled the 3,000-square-foot cafe in Coraopolis.

A grand opening celebration will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Regular hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. The Fourth Avenue cafe is built for veterans, but open to everyone.

“Vets need a place where they can come together, stay connected and know there is a community behind them,” says retired Air Force Master Sgt. Rob Ree, president of Restore 22, a veteran-focused nonprofit organization.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Commonwealth has nearly 700,000 veterans living within our communities, the fifth-largest veterans’ population in the country.

Restore 22 Coffee shop serves special Nicolas Coffee Co. blends (bags of ground coffee are available online) and pastries from Queen Beans Cafe in Coraopolis and L&K Bakehouse in Moon.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

In addition to food and beverage, Restore 22 will offer veterans resources, from helping them file Veterans Administration claims and find mental health care to updating their resumes. There are two private meeting rooms and a large conference room named after the late Tim Murphy, a former U.S. congressman, state senator and Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps commander who died in July 2026.

The coffee shop staff will also educate the public about the battles veterans face on the home front.

Ree experienced PTSD after his 2010 tour in Iraq and longed to find a place where he could rediscover the camaraderie and a sense of purpose he felt in the service.

During a 2022 bike ride, he and his wife, Christine, met Mark and Renee Callahan, who had launched the Restore 22 organization several years before to provide scholarships to former service members interested in pursuing a skilled trade.

Marine Corps vet Mark Callahan wanted to give people a chance at a better future and save the 22 vets who die by suicide each day. The sobering statistic from a 2012 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report fluctuates, but Restore 22’s organizers won’t be satisfied until it’s at zero.

Restore 22’s mission is community-wide.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

The Home Depot Foundation provided grant funding and hands-on support through Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force.

Since 2011, the company has invested more than $650 million in veteran causes and improved more than 70,000 veteran homes and VFW and American Legion facilities.

Restore 22 is the foundation’s first coffee shop project.

The Allegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation and the Robert and Mary Weisbrod Foundation also provided significant grant support toward the project’s goal of raising $100,000.

Armina Stone donated the granite countertop behind the coffee shop counter and the granite surface for the conference room table.

“The military is like a family. Leaving it is like a divorce. This place gives them a home again,” says JT Pennington, an army veteran and Armina Stone’s vice president of operations.

Navy veteran Kelly Ulm, who runs a Coraopolis woodworking business called Prezents on 5th, transformed wood from his building’s previous incarnation as a hardware store into countertops, a table base and shelves for Restore 22.

Other veterans have donated uniforms, patches, photographs and other memorabilia to the site.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

“It’s a bit of Coraopolis history in a new beginning,” says Christine Ree, the nonprofit’s treasurer and operations manager, who formerly worked as operations manager for the Western Pennsylvania branch of the USO. “We want it to be a mini-museum.”

Restore 22 relied on a small army of volunteers — vets and civilians — to transform the empty storefront into a warm and welcoming environment; now they’re looking for consistent onsite help. Volunteers must be 18 or older, commit to two recurring shifts per month and have a passion for assisting veterans.

Restore 22’s Pay It Forward Board gives customers the option of purchasing a coffee and pastry for a veteran. The gift will be added to the board, and staff will randomly choose times to surprise a veteran with the treat.

L&K Bakehouse owner Rachel Thacker makes scones, pumpkin rolls and other goodies for the shop. Her mom, Carole Shirley, who served in the Navy for three decades, just so happened to be in town from Virginia Beach on Veterans Day and was able to experience Restore 22.

“It’s very much needed,” she says of the concept, adding that she’s lost friends and fellow veterans to suicide.

For those who can’t make it to Coraopolis, which is located on the bus line, Restore 22 hosts a pop-up coffee shop at Sewickley’s Christ Church at Grove Farm from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month.

Rev. Bob Cummings, care ministries pastor for the church, offered a prayer during Wednesday’s celebration.

“People who come through the door,” he says, “will be restored.”

Restore 22 Coffee Shop is at 948 4th Ave., Coraopolis.