For Rob Ree, the mission never really ended. After nearly four decades in the United States Air Force, the retired Master Sergeant came home to Western Pennsylvania and found himself navigating a civilian world that felt, at times, like foreign territory. The brotherhood, the structure, the shared purpose that defined military life — none of it transferred easily to the other side of the discharge papers.
This summer, Ree and his partners at Restore 22, the Coraopolis-based nonprofit he leads as president, will open the brick-and-mortar coffee shop they have spent years building toward. Located at 948 Fourth Ave. in Coraopolis, the cafe will serve fresh coffee from a signature blend developed with the Market Square institution Nicholas Coffee Co., fresh pastries, and something harder to bottle: a genuine sense of belonging for the veterans who walk through its door.
The name carries weight. Restore 22 is named for the sobering statistic that approximately 22 veterans die by suicide every day in the United States. The number is the organization’s north star and its call to action. Ree, who holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh and was deployed to Iraq during his service, understands the invisible weight that many veterans carry home. “Some vets don’t want to express their mental trauma since there is such a stigma around it,” he has said. The cafe is designed to lower that barrier without clinical pressure or formal programming—just coffee, conversation, and community.
A Team Built on Service
The organization was co-founded by Mark and Renee Callahan of New Brighton, who crossed paths with Rob and his wife Christine through the kind of serendipitous encounter Pittsburgh does well: a bike ride. Mark, a Marine Corps veteran who runs Veteran Plumbing Services, had already launched Restore 22 years earlier to provide scholarships for former service members pursuing skilled trades. The group pivoted during the pandemic, delivering 127 meals per week to veterans and elderly community members across the region. Christine Ree brings her own institutional knowledge to the effort, having spent years as operations manager for the Western Pennsylvania branch of the USO, where she built volunteer networks and support systems for military families during deployments.
Together, the four visited Welcome Home Veterans Military Museum at Richard’s Coffee Shop in North Carolina and saw the blueprint for what a veteran-centered gathering place could look like in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the country for total veterans population, and the Pittsburgh metro area has a deep military tradition anchored by the 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport. Coraopolis was chosen deliberately: it sits on the Port Authority bus line, giving veterans across the region a way to get there, and it is home to established American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts that already serve as community anchors.
More Than a Coffeehouse
The cafe is designed to do more than pour a good cup. Alongside the Nicholas Coffee Co. house blend and fresh pastries, Restore 22 will offer access to practical resources: help navigating Veterans Administration claims, connections to mental health care, and resume workshops for veterans re-entering the workforce. The space is intentionally non-clinical, built to feel like a neighborhood gathering place first and a resource hub second. Staff and volunteers will be trained to start conversations naturally, and patrons will find materials designed to help civilians understand how to talk to veterans. “We want to invite people into the coffee shop to dispel myths and stigma,” Christine Ree has said. “You’ll be able to see your dollars in action and participate in it.”
A $30,000 grant from the Allegheny County Airport Authority Charitable Foundation moved the project significantly closer to opening, and public fundraising through GoFundMe and a growing network of community partners has sustained the organization through years of planning. The team has run pop-up coffee events, bike rides, and breakfast gatherings throughout Pittsburgh to build the Restore 22 brand and community before the permanent location opened.
For Pittsburgh, a city that has long honored its working-class heritage and its tradition of mutual support, Restore 22 represents something worth celebrating: a group of ordinary people with extraordinary service records who refused to stop serving once the uniform came off. When the doors open on Fourth Avenue this summer, that mission will finally have a home address.