Leif Green Retirement Send-Off

**Update 7/11: Leif is so lucky to have such incredible people in his life! With all of your help, we have already surpassed our initial goal - so we have increased it to $10k! If anyone is deserving of a gift of this magnitude, it’s our Leif.

Since some have asked, I want to clarify that the funds we are collecting will be given to Leif directly as his retirement gift. He can use it as he sees fit - for moving related expenses or in any way that feels meaningful and most helpful to him. Thank you for contributing and for being such a caring community. Leif is a lucky guy!

It feels impossible to describe what Leif Green means to all of us - his life is filled with so many wonderful friends collected over the years from all of the rich and varied chapters of his life: Wheeling, Young Americans, Hollywood, AIDS Walk/MZA, Animation, and more. Leif traveled down a number of career paths and saw many a professional dream realized. His working years were pretty remarkable when you consider everything that he has done in the nearly 50 years since he first left Wheeling and we know that he has made immeasurable impact on the lives of so many whose paths he crossed when traveling down those professional roads.

We have known Leif for almost twenty years. He started out as a boss, morphed into a mentor, crossed over into friendship, and now he is family - our favorite and very special "Uncle Leif." At every milestone in our lives, he has been there to celebrate, and contribute to our happiness. At engagement parties, baby showers, weddings, birthdays for us and our children, happy holidays, and even our saddest and most challenging life events, Leif has been there with a helping hand, an uplifting spirit, a song to sing, a present, and a level of support that is altogether rare and wonderful. We know that he has done the same for so many of his friends - how lucky are we all to be on the receiving end of Leif's generosity and friendship?!

In one month, Leif is retiring and settling himself back home in West Virginia. To say we will miss him madly is the understatement of the century! But after so many years giving his all to his work, we know that he has earned the right to slow down and relax a bit from now on.

In our minds, Leif's retirement hasn't been acknowledged appropriately - he really deserves to have one epic retirement send-off extravaganza to celebrate all of his accomplishments and honor the impact he has made in all of our lives!

With that in mind (and since it would be nearly impossible to gather everyone from all walks of Leif's life together before the end of July), we have decided to raise funds so Leif can retire with as much comfort as possible. If you feel the same way we do, please consider making a donation to this page. Leif will be packing up and moving at the end of July. Our plan is to present him with a "good luck" gift that will be the total of this fundraising effort.

Please join us in our mission and feel free to share it with everyone that you think would like to contribute to this pragmatic way to help a friend that has been such a light in our lives and in the lives of so many!

**This is a surprise, so don't mention anything to Leif. (However, feel free to spread the word on social media platforms because Leif is no longer active on social media now that he is retired).