Saugus veterans event to feature authentic memorabilia, ‘MRE’ meal

SAUGUS – The Saugus Veterans Council will give residents a chance to see what life is like in the military with a special MRE (meal ready to eat) dinner at the Cpl. Scott J. Procopio Saugus American Legion Saturday.An MRE is a fully cooked, self-contained meal that service members eat when they?re deployed in the field. They come in a variety of meals like beef stew, barbecue chicken and cheese tortellini.Veterans Council President Steve Castinetti said Saturday?s dinner will provide residents a unique insight into what active members of the military experience while raising money for the Memorial Day parade.?If we sell out we?re going to raise $3,000 which will go long way to taking care of the Memorial Day Parade,” said Castinetti. “We do two parades a year and Memorial Day is the more expensive one because it?s the biggest. We do the Veterans Day to which isn?t as big. We feed everybody at the parade for free. We get a lot of donations, but we have to pay for food, pay for bands.”The council will hold two servings Saturday, one at 4 p.m. and another at 7 p.m. and Castinetti said there?s a limited number of tickets available at the door.?It?s just going to be a fun day,” said Castinetti. “The Army Barracks is donating all of the decoration and all of the military memorabilia we?ll be using. They?ve given us carte blanche to take whatever we want. We?re going to have some entertainment, Lynn English JROTC, a 50/50 raffle and the American Legion will have the bar open.”Army Barracks, an Army Navy surplus store in Saugus, will also be bringing down their Ferret Tank to park in from of the legion for the day.Castinetti said he came up with the idea for an MRE dinner at a Veterans Council meeting. But planning the dinner wasn?t as easy as he thought.?I called everyone I knew, every branch of the military that I though would have MREs and I was having no luck at all with everyone I talked to,” said Castinetti. “I didn?t want to buy them because I didn?t want it to cut into the parade.”It wasn?t until this past Monday that Castinetti said the General Electric Veterans Council came through and delivered 200 MREs.?They really went above and beyond to find those MREs for us,” said Castinetti. “This was a difficult task to pull off and they really came through for us. This wouldn?t have been possible without them.”Tickets are $15 and are very limited. Contact any member of the Council or call 781-389-3678 to reserve your seat.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].