Following the sudden passing of California High School student Lucas Oswald, the California Eagles Club hosted a day of events -including a basketball tournament and dinner - to benefit his family that resulted in a total of $44,000 raised.
As the community came together to support the Oswald family, Eagles president Steve Liebi said he was proud of the amazing work that California has done to make this possible.
"It's one of the biggest events we've had," Liebi said. "The community just responded tremendously. This young man was an organ donor and he could possibly help as many as 88 people with what he did, and the community has had a generous heart just like he did."
Many people, both from inside and out of the community, came together to show support for the Oswalds and their son. Funds from the dinner, as well as the basketball tournament hosted in his honor earlier in the day Saturday, will be awarded to his family by the Eagles Club.
Liebi said the number of people who attended the dinner alone was a testament to just how much California residents look out for each other. While Liebi said there was no way to keep track of the exact number of people in attendance, he did say about 590 meals were served at the dinner. According to him, it goes to show just how important this was to the people of California as they came together to support one family in their time of need.
"I think the benefit alone shows how much this community loved Lucas and what he did," Liebi told the Democrat Monday. "It's probably one of the bigger benefits that we've had since I've been a member, so it's pretty impressive. (The money we received for the Oswalds) is going to be a little over $44,000. We've been very successful, and I'm just very proud of our community and everything everybody did to make it such a great event."