At annual East Meadow Kiwanis dinner, legacy of Frank Saracino remembered

A few weeks after the event, the Kiwanis Club of East Meadow is reflecting on another successful holiday dinner for seniors and veterans in the community. This year, under a new name, the Frank Saracino Memorial Senior & Military Dinner served roughly 300 people in the gymnasium of East Meadow High School in late November.

A pillar in the community for many years, and a former principal and superintendent in the East Meadow School District, Saracino died in May of this year at 90. The dinner was unanimously approved to be renamed in his honor, as he founded the dinner.

This year’s event was no different — or more cheerful — than years past.

Saracino’s wife, Joan, reflected on the beginnings of the dinner, reading a synopsis to those in attendance at the event. In 1978, her husband wanted to help bridge the gap of having teens mingle with older generations, and decided there was no better way to do so than to host a dinner, where the students serve the elderly.

Members of the school district joined to help host the festivities, while students collected the needed food. For the next decade, working with a trusty team of school-based volunteers, the dinner was very successful.

In 1988, the teachers went on strike in East Meadow — meaning the dinner lost a lot of its helpers. It was then that Saracino enlisted the help of the East Meadow Kiwanis — and the rest, Joan Saracino said, was history.

Saracino retired from the school district in 1995, but  remained involved in the dinner. In 2012, after Hurricane Sandy, the Kiwanis was unable to host the dinner — however; the Saracino’s brought some of the food to a pantry in Hempstead, and the rest to Lindenhurst, where it was donated to the Red Cross.

In its 45-year history, the most the dinner served was 750 people Joan said — and the most turkeys every cooked was 96.

“That synopsis that Joan Saracino wrote,” Kiwanis President Joe Parisi said, “was very educational, because I don’t think a lot of people realize how it really started. A lot of Kiwanians didn’t know why Kiwanis got involved.”

“He was a civic leader, a Kiwanian, and he’d been involved in the community,” said Catherine Razzano, chairs of the Kiwanis’s food drives throughout the year. “He raised his family in the Salisbury area. And not only did he start the dinner, but he did it for many years until he retired — even way after he retired.”

Razzano explained that it’s a multi-tiered volunteer effort that makes the dinner so successful. The Kiwanis works with kids from all of the clubs part of the greater-Kiwanis organization, including the Key Clubs at East Meadow and W.T. Clarke High School, the Builders Clubs in East Meadow’s middle schools, and K-Kids, the elementary and entry level into Kiwanis.

Whether the students were decorating the gym ahead of the dinner, or handing out flowers to the seniors as they entered, their efforts were greatly appreciated.

Saracino was honored two years ago for 50 years of service to the Kiwanis, during the 70th anniversary of the East Meadow organization.

“So many of us knew him for many, many years,” Razzano said. “I danced with him at my prom and at my wedding. The man has a lot of history.”

The dinner was chaired by Michael and Julie Leake this year. Michael Leake is a chef and caterer, Razzano said, and they led the food preparation efforts.

Throughout the holiday season, the Kiwanis is invested in lifting up the East Meadow community. Through Dec. 15, it will be accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys at several businesses in the area.

For more information on where to donate toys visit EastMeadowKiwanis.org. A toy and food distribution will take place on Dec. 17 at Borelli’s Italian Restaurant, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The restaurant is located at 1580 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow.