The day after Veterans Day, Air Force Veteran Tomas Molina received terrible news that his pension from the Postal Service would be delayed. Due to being on a fixed income, the delay in his pension forces him to request assistance.

While taking a stroll in his neighborhood to clear his head, he happened to notice a Veteran support flyer on the window of M & G Restaurant in the Belmont area. Mr. Molina called and recognized the voice on the other line, an old friend who he had lost contact with but was always on his mind. That friend on the other end was me.

Mr. Molina would recount the dilemma he was in because of his delayed pension and how he was finding the system for assistance to be very difficult. I explained to him how hard it is for a Veteran, who is a single male with low income, to get assistance. This situation is especially exasperated because Mr. Molina served in a non-combat time frame. By the end of the conversation both of us had caught up on what has been going on the last few months and made plans to meet at M & G Restaurant for breakfast.

After walking through the brutally cold weather we sat down for coffee, hot chocolate and a delicious meal. Mr. Molina relished talking to a fellow comrade regarding Veteran related topics in the news. I asked if he had heard about the incident at Chili’s on Veteran’s Day that went viral on Facebook. He had no idea about the video or the story. After detailing the events that were reported, I excused myself to say hello to the restaurant’s owner, Guillermo Marquez. Mr. Marquez took it a step further and sat down to speak to Mr. Molina. Mr. Molina explained what I had told him and his pension dilemma; both men spent an hour speaking regarding the matters.

After the conversation all three of us shook hands. When I went to pay for the meal, Mr. Marquez took out his wallet and paid for everything.

You can visit M & G Restaurants located in the Little Italy area:

M & G Restaurant I – 2390 Arthur Ave, Bronx, NY 10458

M & G Restaurant II – 2471 Arthur Ave, Bronx, NY 10458

Photos courtesy of Debbie Powers