A fundraiser with Joe Rosenberg’s Farm Boy BBQ takes place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday at American Legion Post No. 105 in Lyle.

Free-will donations will be accepted with all the proceeds going to the 2010 Lyle Area Cancer Auction fundraiser. The auction has raised $1.15 million in 30 years for cancer research, including $965,000 in the last decade.

“This is our first fundraising event of the year,” said Gary Ziegler, a long-time LACA volunteer. “We couldn’t possibly raise all the money we do for cancer research without all the other events that take place during the year.”

The LACA volunteers have had an amazing record over the last three decades of raising money for the Minnesota Eagles Fifth District Cancer Telethon each January.

The annual auction at Post No. 105 in mid-January is the culmination of a year-long series of fundraising events, large and small.

There’s a Spring Fling in April, a Half-Way to January Cancer Bash in June, Harley Davidson and four-wheeler raffles, Cans For Cancer collection, Carpenter, Iowa pool tournament and scrapbooking activities and other individual events.

The formula has worked successfully for three decades and put LACA’s volunteers in the Fifth District Eagles Telethon “Hall of Fame” for their generosity.

Now, they have a new event: Farm Boy BBQ is making its debut Saturday night.

“This is a ‘first’ for us,” said Ziegler, who along with his wife, Cindy, has assisted the annual cancer research fundraising effort at Lyle and Carpenter. “We really appreciate what Joe is doing.”

According to Rosenberg, it’s personal. “My grandfather, Sylvan Faas, died of cancer about a year ago this weekend, and my dad has had a bout with cancer,” he said.

Saturday night’s Farm Boy BBQ fundraiser is being advertised differently than other similar events.

On the fliers announcing the event, it reads: “This supper is in memory of Sylvan Faas and buddies: John Faas (brother), Don Ziegler, Vernon Nelson, Kenny Mudra, Larry Bruggeman, Herman Kohonke, Dean Hanson, Don Finnegan and many others.”

“We love and miss them all very much,” the announcement concludes.

All are names of cancer victims. Each January, when the auction is held at Post No. 105, a banner handing from a wall in the city garage, where the fundraising fun and games occur, the names of cancer victims are displayed for all to see.

Just as the banner listing the names of cancer survivors, brings relief, the list of victims brings grief.

Joe Rosenberg decided he could make a difference and help LACA’s volunteers.

“My grandpa had a lot of friends at Post No. 105, and I just wanted to do something to honor him,” Rosenberg said.

Joe and his wife, Stacey, a Riverland Community College nursing instructor, have two children: Remy, a son, 8, and Raina, a daughter, 5.

Joe farms in partnership with his father, Richard and his wife, Betty. Together they raise 12,000 hogs on their farm straddling the Mitchell and Worth counties’ line west of St. Ansgar and Carpenter.

Rosenberg said he started taking grilling “seriously” in 2001. Three years later, he was on the road, entering BBQ contests throughout the Upper Midwest.

Locally, he has grilled in Austin and Albert Lea competitions.

His skills have earned him the current third-place ranking in the nation for pork.

He is also ranked among the top 20 cookers nationally for his ribs and chicken.

“We’re going to have the whole family help out Saturday night,” Rosenberg said. “We’ve been fortunate to get everything donated, so we should be able to donate all the money they take-in to the Lyle cancer auction.”

Anyone who wants more information or to help Saturday night may call (507) 325-4134.