Oswego Resident Turns Party Into Fundraiser for Eric Lederman Family

For the past eight years, Justin and Michelle Sather have thrown a party at their home in the Churchill subdivision for friends and neighbors.

Four years ago, Justin threw his mother a 60th birthday party, complete with a Beatles band and a tent and lots of guests. Sather had always preferred Blues music, so the next year he threw a Blues party.

And it all just snowballed from there.

Last year, Michelle Sather, Justin's wife, decided to turn the slowly growing block party into a fundraiser for Kerrie Engdahl, an Oswego teacher .

“We have all these people over and we don’t charge anything,” said Sather, whose family funds all of the entertainment. “I figure it wouldn’t hurt to chip in $5 or $10 for a good cause.”

They raised $1200 dollars between donations and a raffle for Bulls and Cubs tickets that Sather and friends provided.

This year, the Sather couple decided to make the event even larger with the goal to raise money for the Eric Lederman family, who lost their son, Eric, in a

“We want to give back to the community,” said Sather, who owns his own law firm, , and his wife, Michelle, who works for in Oswego. “We want to share what we’ve been given.”

This year Sather reached out to local area businesses to help with some of the funding and raffle items.

“I just want to thank them all for what they’ve done,” he said.

catered the food and also sponsored a hamburger eating competition, bounce inflatables were provided by Partysaver.com and a port-a-potty donated by Area Rest Room Solutions.

The Matt Stedman Band played all three of the Blues on Barton for the evening of the event.

Raffle prizes were donated by , , Advanced Healthcare, Comcast Sports, Lisa E. Photography, , Stacie’s Spa, and the Chicago Bulls, as well as many individual donations of gift cards and gift baskets from friends and neighbors.

Sather said the turnout was unbelievable, with he said around 200 people throughout the evening, including Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis. His previous events had had around 50 people.

The event raised $2263 between donations and the raffle. 100 percent of that amount will go to the Eric Lederman family.