WILBRAHAM – The 3 Guys Catering Scholarship Fund dinner will take place on June 20 at 5 p.m. at the Country Club of Wilbraham on 859 Stony Hill Rd. Hosted by 3 Guys at the Grille, they will be giving out three $1,000 scholarships this year.

“It’s something we’ve done for the last 11 years,” Co-owner Bob Granger replied. “Now, we’re bringing it over here at the Country Club in Wilbraham.”

3 Guys at the Grille is a restaurant and banquet facility located at the Country Club of Wilbraham. For the past 11 years, they have provided over 100, $1,000 scholarships to area students.

Granger told Reminder Publishing this effort did not start off as a scholarship. It started as giving an affordable pasta meal to seniors and their families one day a month. All the proceeds from the dinners were then developed into a scholarship fund to assist high school seniors in the area to further their education.

“Because of the way the economy was going, we just wanted to help out the elderly; to have them have a nice affordable meal once a month,” Granger said. “It turned out to be a real social event for the elderly and families can bring their children as well. They get to have full course meals, pasta, meatballs, chicken parm and salad for $6.”
Co-owner Joseph Piccuirro added, “We have a pasta dinner every month on the third Monday of the month that we raise the money all year for the scholarship night which this year is going to be in June.”

3 Guys have a scholarship committee of five members. The chairman, Richard Freccero, who has been an educator for the last 30 years in the area, goes around to area high schools providing scholarship applications for guidance counselors to give to students. Students then mail in their applications to the country club and the committee makes a decision on who will receive the scholarships.

Three lucky local students will have the opportunity to win a scholarship – one from Minnechaug Regional High School, one from East Longmeadow High School and one from Pope Francis Preparatory School. By September, Piccuirro said they are looking to double their effort to six $1,000 scholarships or three $2,000 scholarships.

The most rewarding part of their efforts, Piccuirro and Granger said, was during the height of COVID-19 they decided to do a pasta dinner drive-thru. They said they were amazed at all of the seniors lining the street in their cars to get a meal during the rise of the coronavirus pandemic. “We did that every week for a couple of months,” Granger responded. “The joy of seeing the seniors there. They absolutely love it, and they follow us around to do this.”

For more information, visit their website at 3guysatthegrille.com. From there, click on “events” then “charity and scholarship.” For additional inquiries, call 596-887 ext. 5. Their Facebook and Instagram can be found at 3 Guys at the Grille.