{"id":6684,"date":"2026-09-14T02:33:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T02:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6684"},"modified":"2026-09-14T02:33:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T02:33:34","slug":"umc-officially-dedicates-nielsen-family-wellness-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6684","title":{"rendered":"UMC officially dedicates Nielsen Family Wellness Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

CROOKSTON, Minn. \u2014 The University of Minnesota Crookston celebrated the extraordinary generosity of alumnus Les Nielsen and his late wife, June, during a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony Monday, April 20, in the campus <a href="https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=6626" title="Agape Health and Wellness<\/a> Center: Transforming Lives Through Integrated Healthcare & Community Leadership”>wellness center<\/a><\/p>\n

During the ceremony, the facility, which opened in 2016, was officially named the Nielsen Family Wellness Center in recognition of Nielsen\u2019s $6.2 million donation, the largest gift in the school\u2019s history, said UMC Chancellor Mary Holz-Clause<\/p>

University of Minnesota Crookston Nielsen Family Wellness Center benefactor Les Nielsen and UMC chancellor Mary Holz-Clause react as Nielsen cuts the ribbon at Monday’s dedication ceremony at UMC.<\/figcaption>Eric Hylden \/ Grand Forks Herald<\/p>\n

The dedication event was held to honor Les Nielsen and June, who died in September, and their family for their longtime support of the school<\/p>\n

Since the 1990s the Nielsens have provided scholarships for hundreds of students, most recently a full-tuition scholarship for students living in Red Lake Falls, Grygla, Clearbrook, Gonvick, Goodridge and Euclid, Minnesota. Les Nielsen, of Plymouth, Minnesota, was born on a farm near Red Lake Falls and grew up on a farm near Euclid. June had family ties to the Red Lake Falls and Gonvick area<\/p>\n

The Nielsens also donated $1 million to the wellness center project before its grand opening in 2016, in memory of their son, Mitch Lien Nielsen, who died as the result of a motorcycle accident in 1989. The lobby in the wellness center is named for him<\/p>\n

Les Nielsen is a 1958 graduate of the Northwest School of Agriculture, a high school<\/a> that later evolved into the University of Minnesota Crookston. He went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities<\/p>\n

Guest speakers at Monday\u2019s event included Holz-Clause; Nielsen and his son, Randy Brian Nielsen; Gretchen Ritter, University of Minnesota executive vice president and provost; John Morris, president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation; Rosemary Johnsen, UMC vice chancellor for academic and student affairs; and Lexi Swendra, a Nielsen Family Student Scholarship recipient<\/p>\n

Kevin Thompson, UMC\u2019s director of advancement and alumni relations, was the master of ceremonies<\/p>\n

In her remarks, Holz-Clause said all were gathered \u201cto honor the wonderful gift that\u2019s been given to the community and to the University of Minnesota Crookston.\u201d<\/p>\n

She praised the Nielsens for their major gift to help fund construction of the 36,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art wellness center, which opened in fall 2016. The facility features a two-court gymnasium, a suspended walking\/jogging track, weight and cardio equipment, a fitness studio and classroom<\/p>\n

In his comments, Nielsen said he is \u201cblessed to be part of the (school)\u201d and proud of its commitment to northwest Minnesota over the 125 years since the campus started<\/p>\n

Regarding his and his wife\u2019s family backgrounds, he said, \u201cWe were blessed to grow up in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being raised on a farm and educated at the Northwest School of Agriculture prepared him for college, for working and studying hard, and developing a successful career. That experience inspired him and his family to want to give back to the university and support students<\/p>\n

Swendra, a senior from Red Lake Falls, said the Nielsen scholarship allowed her to \u201cfocus on academics without having to worry\u201d about finances during her college career<\/p>\n

She is grateful \u201cto not be left with the weight of debt\u201d as she completes her degree<\/p>\n

About Nielsen\u2019s gift of scholarships, she said, \u201cI will be forever thankful for your generosity and the lasting impact you\u2019ve made on our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ribbon-cutting was followed by a reception with toasts by Brandy Chaffee, chief development officer at the University of Minnesota, and Stephanie Helgeson, the school\u2019s athletic director<\/p>\n

Chaffee noted the \u201cmany decades of support and love\u201d the Nielsens have given to UMC. And about Les Neilsen, she said, \u201cyour whole life has been about giving to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the wellness center, Helgeson noted \u201chow much students love being in here day in and day out.\u201d<\/p>\n

She presented to Les Nielsen a 3-foot-long key to the building and a lifetime membership to the Nielsen Family Wellness Center<\/p>\n

Nielsen is an entrepreneur, Chaffee said. In 1968, along with his business partner, Gene Ellingson, he started Herc-U-Lift, which rents and sells heavy-duty material-handling equipment, such as forklifts and scissor lifts<\/p>\n

The company has grown from four employees to more than 200 and operates in branch locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin<\/p>\n

The Nielsen scholarships are critical for all recipients, but especially for those students who are pursuing degrees online, many of whom are older than traditional college age, Holz-Clause said. \u201cThe average age of our online students is 32.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s official enrollment last fall, 1,890, is the highest in its history. About 65% of the students are Minnesotans, and half of those are from the Twin Cities area, she said<\/p>\n

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CROOKSTON, Minn. \u2014 The University of Minnesota Crookston celebrated the extraordinary generosity of alumnus Les Nielsen and his late wife, June, during a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony Monday, April 20, in the campus wellness center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1602,91,1603,1601,131],"class_list":["post-6684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-family-wellness","tag-dedicates","tag-family","tag-nielsen","tag-officially","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6685,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6684\/revisions\/6685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}