You can help honor Manheim veterans just by sitting down to dinner. On Sunday, Nov. 14, the Manheim Veterans Memorial Committee (MVMC) will host a benefit dinner at ARTifice Ales & Mead to help raise funds for the creation of a memorial plaza at Manheim's Veterans Memorial Park.
The fixed-price dinner will begin at 7 p.m. and will feature four courses inspired by food served to troops in the field. "The rations we ate in the field were called MREs - meals, ready-to-eat," explained ARTifice owner Willie Wrede, who is a veteran of the Marine Corps and also served in the Navy and National Guard. "We're doing a menu that puts a spin on MREs."
Although Wrede wanted to keep some of the meal a surprise, he revealed that one course will be a tribute to his favorite MRE. "One of the more desirable, and therefore harder to find, MREs was beef stew," he recalled. "It came with a cherry poundcake and other goodies."
The benefit dinner will also feature pairings with ARTifice's own beers or mead as well as the opportunity for diners to win prizes from local businesses in drawings held throughout the evening.
George Schwartz, a retired Army brigadier general, is spearheading the memorial plaza campaign and said he's grateful for the support of ARTifice. In addition to the dinner, the restaurant has held two other fundraisers for the plaza, including creating a beer that specifically benefits the project.
Schwartz said the MVMC is hoping to raise $250,000 through donations, fundraising events and the sale of memorial bricks in order to create the plaza. It will be dedicated to veterans who served in the military in peace and war over the past 245 years and will include flagpoles for the standards of all military services.
"There is a rich history of military service in this area, and it goes back to the Civil War," Schwartz stated. "We need to recognize those who served, some of whom made the ultimate sacrifice."
The motto of the MVMC is "Honor Their Service," and Wrede said that's what he hopes to do through events like the benefit dinner.
"One of the key things we learn in the service is to remember that you're following in the footsteps of those who came before you," he remarked. "It's important to honor and remember them."
The MVMC launched its capital campaign for the plaza this past July, and Schwartz said the project will be a multi-year effort. He's hoping to hold a groundbreaking sometime in 2022.
Reservations are required for the benefit dinner, which will be held at ARTifice, 55 N. Main St., Manheim. The deadline for reservations is the end of the day on Tuesday, Nov. 9. To reserve tickets, search for "Manheim Veterans Memorial Charity Dinner" on http://www.eventbrite.com or click on the link on the MVMC and ARTifice Ales & Mead Facebook pages. More information about the MVMC can be found at https://manheimveteransmemorial.org.
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