Brothers from Lambda Chapter at the University of Minnesota gathered June 6 to honor past Brother Nick Lilleberg at their annual Nick Lilleberg Golf Open hosted by the Lilleberg Family Foundation.
Brother Nick Lilleberg’s son, Brother Levi Lilleberg helps his mother host the Golf Open every year since his father’s passing of classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2016. Two years later, Brother Nick Lilleberg’s wife, Kristi, took over a golf tournament that Brother Nick Lilleberg’s friends used to hold and used it to raise funds for the Lilleberg Family Foundation, which many AGR brothers from Lambda Chapter attend every year.
“Two years ago, when I was a sophomore in college, I got some of my other buddies in AGR to golf with me at the event,” Brother Levi Lilleberg said.
He said this year, nine collegiate members, including himself participated in the Golf Open along with several alumni and Lambda Chapter’s Housemother. He said roughly 30 AGR members and affiliates were in attendance for this year’s event. The event brought in roughly 160 golfers.
During the event, attendees spent the afternoon golfing. While golfing, attendees can participate in hole contests. That evening, they got together for dinner at a local event center with live music in Spicer, Minnesota where Kristi Lilleberg read off the raffle winners.
The raffle and sponsorship opportunities are just some of the ways she raises money for the Lilleberg Family Foundation.
The Foundation supports a variety of organizations in agriculture and those affected by cancer. This year, the event raised $27,000 in total, which was distributed to different causes. Brother Levi said $15,000 went to Red Drop Resources, which provides support for patients and families affected by blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Another $11,000 went to a local family who had a family member with cancer and the last $1,000 also went to a family affected by cancer.
Brother Lilleberg said having his AGR brothers and members who went to school with his father was something special.
“It shows how deep the bonds are in AGR,” he said. “It’s not just people you forget about after college. It’s people you stay in touch with after college.”
He noted how amazing it was to see alumni members come back after 20 years to support his family and honor his father after he had been gone for eight years.
“I think it’s a testament to the bonds of Alpha Gamma Rho,” Brother Lilleberg said.
Since its founding in 2018, the Lilleberg Family Foundation has raised $82,000 for Red Drop Resources, $64,000 to support local families affected by cancer, $15,000 in agricultural scholarships and $190,000 supporting other events to raise funds for cancer – totaling over $350,000 in six years.
