Julia Berg Memorial Fund

The Julia Berg Memorial Fund was established at The Minneapolis  Foundation to support organizations and issues that were important to Julia, and to preserve her legacy as an outspoken, passionate and  liberal young woman. We’re grateful to the hundreds of friends who have contributed generously to the Fund.

Julia was passionate about justice, peace and the environment. She walked on stilts in the Gay Pride Parade in support of her friends and their families. She was an intern at the Sierra Club when she died, working for clean water and environmental justice. From her friends we have learned of her daily acts of kindness and support for classmates who struggled with their own issues of self-esteem, peer pressure and alienation. She told them that they didn’t have to follow the crowd; that it was okay to be different. And that she was their friend.

A major addition to the Fund came as a result of BLAST Day (Be Loving And Sharing Together) at Southwest High School on June 2, 2006.  Proceeds from this school-wide  fundraising effort were given to the Sierra Club-North Star Chapter, the  Minnesota Chapter of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill and to the Minneapolis Parks to dedicate a bench by Lake Harriet.

There are a few ongoing programs of the Fund. We make an annual contribution to the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. We have also established the Julia Berg Award at Southwest High School in Minneapolis, where Julia was about to begin her sophomore year. 

For a list of recipients of the Julia Berg Award, see the link below. In addition to receiving a cash award, each recipient is invited to recommend a grant to a charitable organization.