The owner of San Martino Ristorante, Alfio Lo Paro, considers the financial assistance “a miracle” that will help him pay the restaurant’s outstanding bills.
San Martino Ristorante, a restaurant in Yonkers, New York, is getting a lot of help from the Barstool Fund, and restaurant owner Alfio Lo Paro says getting help is “a miracle”.
“It was like a godsend. It was a miracle, really, ”he told Fox & Friends Weekend. “It was a Christmas miracle.”
Lo Paro said his sons sent a letter to Barstool founder Dave Portnoy to include Lo Paro in the fund, which normally distributes $ 10,000 to selected small businesses, without any expectation of being chosen. Portnoy confirmed the news to Lo Paro via FaceTime Wednesday.
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“It is very exciting, very exciting. I collapsed and cried, ”he said. “Thank God he came for us.”
On the call, Portnoy said he was happy to help and that it couldn’t have happened to “a better place, a better guy”.
San Martino is a small family restaurant founded in 1975 after Lo Paro came to Italy from the USA. Now, the pandemic has led to the worst year in the restaurant’s history, and Lo Paro said it is getting “increasingly difficult” to sustain his business.
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Lo Paro admitted that his accounts are piling up as the sector continues to suffer, but he was “shocked” to receive financing when millions of other small businesses are also struggling.
The Barstool Fund has raised more than $ 17 million, with 65 small selected companies being supported so far. Portnoy first pledged $ 500,000 to the fund and has since watched it grow.