StandTall Memorial

09/22/2022

When Stand Tall was started, we never dreamed it would have lasted this long. Initially, it was created to bring friends and family together to celebrate James and his spirit.

Because of your love and generosity, not only did we get to tell stories about James over good food and drinks, but we also were able to create something much bigger, a Stand Tall Scholarship. For 8 years, this community has been able to support students at Trinity High School who showcase what it's like to Stand Tall.

This year we were able to award another $2,500 scholarship to a Trinity Junior, Raner Chow.

As time has gone by, Stand Tall has grown and changed. Now, it's time for its next chapter. Working with Trinity, we will be creating an endowment fund called the James S. Puchacz '08 Stand Tall Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Even though our plans don't include a big 'ol BBQ to fundraise going forward, we will continue to support this scholarship in James' name through the endowment fund. If you'd like to support the scholarship, have no worries, we are working with Trinity for an easy way to donate online (details coming soon). Our hope is that the scholarship will be awarded through this endowment for many years to come.

We cannot thank you all enough for all the support over the past 8 years.

As always, we love you all and can't wait until the next time we get to see you.

Much love,
The Stand Tall Committee
Dan, Rob, Gabbie, Sam, Scott, Andrew

07/14/2021

It’s been a while since we’ve been able to share good news so here is some to start your day!

Last month we awarded the 2021 Stand Tall Scholarship ($2,500) in James Puchacz’s name to a rising senior at Trinity High School. This year’s recipient has overcome a major life struggle and has worked incredibly hard to be a great student and an involved member of the Trinity community. Over the past 7 years we have been able to help many hardworking and deserving students thanks to all your loving support and generosity.

While unfortunately we are not able to hold the classic Stand Tall Summer BBQ this year we still want to . We’re offering a chance to win the most coveted Stand Tall Raffle item; some may say the pinnacle of any summer bbq. Yes, that’s right. You guessed it! We’re raffling off Dom’s FAMOUS Meat Cooler from Dom’s Sausage Company! Buy some raffle tickets and cross your fingers, we’ll be picking the winner at the end of July.

Thank you all for all the continued love and support, we never thought we’d still have the opportunity to send out these kinds of emails so many years later.


Buy those raffle tickets and stay tuned for upcoming Stand Tall events.

In Memory of James S. Puchacz

06/16/2020

Which do you want first? Always feels good to lead with good news.

The Good News:
Earlier this month we were able award a $3,000 scholarship in James' name to a rising senior at Trinity High School. We wouldn't be able to pull this off without your continued love and support. The past 6 years of have allowed us to help many hardworking and deserving Trinity students and we're excited to continue doing so as long as we can. Which brings us to the "Not So Good News."

The Not So Good News:
Usually around this time, we're writing to you to tell you how excited we are for the upcoming Stand Tall Summer BBQ, raffle items, and swag. Unfortunately, due to COVID we've made the tough decision to cancel this year's BBQ. We are so bummed to be writing this and are already missing seeing all of you.

More Good News:
See what we did there? We like to call that a "good-news-sammich™." In the absence of this year's event we will only be that much more excited to see you all at the next Stand Tall BBQ!

We'd like to extend a HUGE thank you to all of YOU. Thank you for supporting the cause and continuing to Stand Tall with us and the Puchacz family in remembering James. We'll be using our koozies a little extra this year. We hope you're able to Party Like A Puchacz this summer and make sure to tag us in your summer pics! 🙏🏼

Sending all the love to all of you. We hope you're staying happy and healthy.

Here's to the next one. 🍻

The Stand Tall Committee
Dan, Rob, Gabbie, Sam, Scott, Andrew

09/20/2019

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Yet again, another year of Stand Tall and another a year of us being blown away by all of the continued love and support. It was such an awesome night this past Saturday at this year's 6th Annual Stand Tall Memorial Event!

Thank you to everyone that was able to attend and enjoy the BBQ.

We'd like to make a special thanks to Kim Joseph, Sherry Lawrence, and Barbara Puchacz Warren for pulling together all of the raffle items for this year's event! 🙏🙏

To all of you that brought raffle items that evening, thank you as well. We couldn't do any of this without all of your support.

We'd like to send out a HUGE Thank You to Carmen Giampetruzzi and the staff Auburn Pitts for donating the venue and food. ❤️👊

By the end of the night, about 200 people had come through to remember James and raise money for a great cause.

It was great seeing everyone again, and we can't wait to see you all again next year!

09/14/2019

Tents are up just in case but in typical Stand Tall fashion, we know the rain will let up right as we start at 3!

See you soon!

09/19/2018

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Yet again, another year of Stand Tall and another year of us being blown away by all of the continued support. It was such an amazing night this past Saturday at this year's 5th Annual Stand Tall Memorial Event! Thanks to everyone that came out and enjoyed BBQ. Thanks to all of you that donated online, donated raffle items, bought raffle tickets, and danced with the band.

We'd like to extend a special thank you to Kim Joseph, Barbara Puchacz Warren, and Sherry Lawrence for pulling together all of the raffle items for this year's event. 🙏🏼

Thanks to the band Outta Bounds for rocking the place for us! Make sure to check them out on Facebook and tell everyone you know about them! 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Finally, a HUGE Thank You to Carmen Giampetruzzi for donating the venue and food! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

By the end of the night about 150 people had come through to remember James and raise money for a great cause. It was great seeing everyone again, we can't wait to see you all again next year!

09/14/2018

One more day! 🙌🏻 🍺

Hope you're ready to

09/14/2017

We cannot believe the success of this year's 4th Annual Stand Tall Memorial Event! Over the past FOUR years we've seen the support from so many people. We wanted to take a minute and thank all of you for making this years event a success.

Thank you to all of you who donated to our raffle this year; Regina Laskowski, Meredith Duhaime, Sherry Lawrence, Kim Joseph, and Domenic Anthony and Ashleigh Scipione Botticelli.

Thanks to the band Outta Bounds for rocking the place for us! Make sure to check them out on Facebook and tell everyone you know about them!

Finally, a HUGE Thank You to Carmen Giampetruzzi for donating the venue and food!

We were so blown away with how many people came out to the event. By the end of the night, almost 200 people had come through to remember James and raise money for a great cause. It was great seeing everyone again, we can't wait to see you all again next year!


The Stand Tall Committee
Dan, Rob, Gabbie, Sam, Scott, Andrew