Party of the first part

How many lawyers can you fit into the W-Foshay?

From what we saw last weekend, a lot. Members of the judicial system filled the downtown Minneapolis event space for the Page Foundation's "Light Up the Night" benefit.

Justice and ex-Viking Alan Page and his wife, Diane, started the organization in 1988 to provide financial support and mentors to students. They started awarding grants to 20 students and this year supported 650.

"My wife and I wanted to do something to encourage, motivate and assist young people of color," Page said.

Degalynn Wade Sanders, a Page Scholar in 1990, was enthusiastically selling raffle tickets and telling her story. She was the youngest of three kids in a Minneapolis family in which no one had graduated from high school. When she became a Page scholar, she received the money she needed to get her education and Justice Page, then a lawyer, became her mentor.

"It started as a dream: a vision of a 17-year-old who wanted to be a lawyer," she said.

She graduated from high school, college and law school and is now a solo practitioner of family law.

"Without the Page Foundation, my life would not be the same," she said. She still calls Page when she needs advice.

The event included the first-ever late-night bash that went on until well past midnight.

So can anything, even a professional football career, prepare you for such a party?

"No! Other than being used to flashing lights," said Justice Page.

Sara Glassman • 612-673-7177