COURTESY OF MASSACHUSETTS FALLEN HEROES
FALMOUTH – A concert will be held Saturday in Falmouth to raise money for Massachusetts Fallen Heroes.
The “Reunion of Summers Past” concert will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. at Marina Park and features local musical groups including John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band, Steve Smith & the Nakeds and Stage Door Canteen.
Massachusetts Fallen Heroes is a public charity that was formed in 2010 by Boston firefighters, local veterans, gold star families, police officers and others to create a public memorial to honor the fallen after the attacks on September 11, 2001.
Chris Lessard, the program director for Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, said the organization has since expanded and provides other services.
“We also provide veterans advocacy services and we also run a lot of programs for families of the fallen, or gold star families,” he said.
This is the second year Fallen Heroes has been involved with this concert.
“It really defines a community building project and gets everyone together volunteering,” Lessard said. “At the same time, everyone has a blast and the proceeds go to a good organization. So it’s like a trifecta of a victory.”
The proceeds from the event and other Fallen Heroes events always go to the veterans and their families, according to Lessard.
“When we have these events we let people know that this money is going right to these veterans, or the memorial or gold star families,” he said. “It falls into the array of everything we do.”
Lessard also said the funds raised will stay within the Commonwealth.
“It’s directly tied to Massachusetts. We don’t go national and we are not going national anytime soon,” he said. “This is basically in our backyard and this is what we thrive on.”
Lessard added that the charity has come a long way since it was founded.
“The biggest thing we pride ourselves on is that we are a grass roots organization,” he said. “We started in 2010 selling t-shirts and now we are at the point where we are running all sorts of programs.”
Along with the music, food vendors will be on hand and there will also be a 50/50 raffle.
Last year’s concert raised $30,000 for the charity.
The organization broke ground on the memorial on the waterfront of South Boston last October and it will be dedicated in May of 2016.
Admission for the concert will be $20 for anyone 21 or older, $10 for anyone under 21 and children under 12 get in free.
