BERNE — Just before Thanksgiving, Steve Savino drove into Albany and stood in a long line of veterans to get a free turkey.

“They had 300 turkeys … I got there half-an-hour early and I was about the 200th person in line, so that got the wheels spinning,” Savino told The Enterprise this week.

In the month and a half that followed, Savino organized a drive that has led to 100 holiday meals being boxed to hand out, for free, to Hilltown veterans on Saturday at the school in Berne.

“Albany County veteran services do a phenomenal job but, when it comes to the Hilltowns, if we want to participate, we have to go off the Hill,” said Savino, who lives in Berne. “I know we have a lot of older veterans and people that just don’t like to go out in general. So that got me going like: Why can’t we do something up here? So I just said the hell with it.”

He talked to Brad Stevens, owner of the Babbling Brook restaurant. “He helped me put this whole thing together and we got support from the school and sponsors — it’s kind of a roller coaster but I think it’s a good thing,” he said.

Savino, who describes himself as “a 100-percent disabled combat veteran,” served in the Air Force from 2001 through 2016.

He grew up in Westerlo and was inspired to join the military by his grandfather, Charles Peck.

“He was like my mentor,” said Savino. “My father was a truck driver off on the road so he kind of helped raise me.”

Savino said of his grandfather, “He took me out hunting, fishing; we trap shot together. We were pretty much best friends. So when I came of age, one of the best deciding factors I had to go into the military was from all his stories.”

Earlier this year, Charles H. “Sonny” Peck Jr., a World War II veteran, was posthumously awarded a Gold Medal, which Congress commissioned as its highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions. George Washington was the first Gold Medal recipient.

Peck, the oldest of nine siblings, grew up on a dairy farm in Westerlo. His mother died when he was in the eighth grade. A month after her death, the family’s barn caught fire and his father broke his leg rescuing the cows. Charles Peck dropped out of school to help his family and then, at age 15, enlisted in the Navy.

Peck served as an armed guard on Merchant Marine ships, and was one of just a few survivors when his ship transporting fuel during the Battle of the Bulge was torpedoed in the English Channel.

Peck was on another ship delivering supplies in the Arctic Ocean to the Russian Army and later on a ship in the Pacific Theater delivering oil to ships fighting the Japanese.

Savino said that he himself was stationed “all over the place,” including in Colorado, Italy, Germany, and England.

Savino worked in intelligence, a field that limits what he can share about his service, he said.

“It’s basically finding out what the enemy is doing,” Savino said. “We did signals intelligence so, if people were calling in IEDs,” he said of improvised explosive devices, “we could identify where they were calling from, that kind of thing.”

While he was overseas, he shattered his heel, Savino said. “The Air Force said, ‘All right, well, that’s it. You’re done,’” he recounted. “Between that and PTSD, the VA had to take care of me.”

Savino has nothing but praise for Veterans Affairs. “As far as the health care I get, the VA is phenomenal,” he said. “I love it.”

“I’m fully disabled and I can’t work, so I put all my time into this,” Savino said of the holiday-meal giveaway. He said of the boxed meals, “We’re starting with 100. I don’t know if it’s too high or if it’s not enough. We’re going to see how it goes.”

If the giveaway goes well, Savino said, he plans to make it an annual event.

The giveaway will be held at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo campus at 1738 Helderberg Trail in Berne from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20.

Fire police from Berne and Westerlo will direct traffic. Members of the BKW Class of 2027 will pack the boxes of food and bring them out, Savino said.

He says he’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and listed the many donors in a letter to the Enterprise editor this week.

“Leo Vane donated 100 bottles of fresh honey that he got this year from his bees,” said Savino. “The Stantons have given us all the produce to put in the boxes … hundreds of pounds of potatoes, carrots, onions.”

Brad Stevens arranged for the meal’s centerpiece: a foil-wrapped spiral ham.

“They all came through,” said Savino, “and the unwavering support from everybody’s been amazing.”