WATCH: New York pizza shop owner tears up after Dave Portnoy offers help with rent

Dave Portnoy of Barstool has long since been on a tour of small businesses in America, working to keep them afloat during the pandemic ravaging the US economy.

Today he went to Raceway Pizza & Ristorante and heard from the owner there.

“I'm telling you, it took me by surprise. And I just told Dave, no, I looked at him and I said, I recognize them. I see them on TV all the time. And Emma Tucker and everybody has, they do a wonderful job. And they're just, I lost my mom a few months ago. She was my partner here for fifty years.”

“I'm having a struggle right now because I close up every night early. There's not too many people around. And, uh, I tell ya, I just feel right now. I just feel very, very blessed right now because I have a lot of people, a lot of customers from the neighborhood that have been regulars for years, but because of the pandemic, nothing's been the same, nothing, and, uh, they were thank God they were great people out there that really care. And, and I feel very, very blessed. I don't know what else to say.”

The owner shows Portnoy pictures of himself and his mother, including when the two opened up the store in 1971.

“Fifty years here, struggling since I was a kid. And, you know, we made a good go out of it. My kids grew up, they went to college. Everybody did very well, but right now the past year or so... I'm behind in my rent.”

The pizza shop owner trails off. But Portnoy jumps in. “Do you have a card? We’ll get you all caught up.”

“We'll get you the money you need to get you all caught up.”