Matt Palazzolo Memorial Fund

Welcome!

Thank you for taking the time to check out the page for the Matt Palazzolo Memorial Fund. Matthew Benjamin Palazzolo was an activist, an actor, a community leader, a friend, a lover, a son, and an incredible human being. 

About Matt:

There aren’t enough words to fully describe Matt. But if you had to choose some you could use include “unicorn", “fabulous", “rich", “warm", “hilarious", “deep”, “rainbow-flavored"; and most spiritually like a cat.

In his all too short but incredibly impactful life Matt shined his light in a number of diverse and beautiful ways.

After Prop 8 passed in California he formed the LGBTQ rights organization Equal Roots in LA to educate and persuade those who may have been confused, misinformed or uninformed about LGBTQ people, and because of this work, a few years ago he was selected as one of the 10 most influential Americans under the age of 25. It was an honor he rightly earned. 
Right after this time, he was voted Mr. LA Pride, and a few years after he became a member of the Gay Advisor Board for the City of West Hollywood's City Council. He loved this city, and it loved him. Take it for what you will but that giant double rainbow formed over Los Angeles on Jan. 9th, right about the same time he passed away. 

Matt was also an incredible Actor and Director, and after having been frustrated with an industry that couldn't figure out which box he fit in, (Was he Asian? Was he Latino? Was he Italian?) he gathered together some of his most talented friends from acting class and beyond and created the award winning web series Bloomers! Where he wrote, edited, and acted in the series, garnering him much acclaim and many awards. 

Matt always wanted to act, but as much as he chased acting, directing chased him even harder. Circumstances on our set sometimes required him to take on the mantle of Director (in addition to Executive Producer/Creator/Writer/Star). And when AT&T came calling he delivered hit after hit for their LGBT communications initiatives.


Matt discovered joy in attending music festivals. He loved Coachella and Burning Man and focused his energy on outdoor trips, and cruises. Just in the past 3 months he hiked Texas' Big Bend National Park, the Lava Beds National Monument in Northern California, and the great  challenge of Australia’s 4th highest peak, Mount Sonder.


More than all this, Matt was an incredible friend. He gave us all a special piece of himself in friendship, holding us all close and keeping friendships for decades that in other hands would fizzle. His reach was far across the world, meeting friends from every corner, his sunny disposition and infection laugh made him someone you wanted to know and definitely someone you wanted to keep around. I know we all wish he still was. 


What your donation goes to:
We will use any donations given for the rental of the space, equipment, flowers, candles, and decorations for the Celebration of Life for Matt. 

We are hopefully getting the West Hollywood Park on Feb. 3rd from 4-6pm. 

The bulk of our fund will go to the Audio/Visual component. We plan to have  a sound system, microphone stands, a podium, video equipment, projectors, screens for projecting videos onto, as well as extension cords and possibly hiring someone from the equipment rental place to set-up and tear down all of the Audio/Visual equipment. 

To go along with the A/V we are hoping to have enough money to purchase flowers, candles with wax catchers for a candle light vigil, the printing of Service Programs, and the production of a large print of a Photo of Matt (to be given to his family after the service).

Any funds received in excess of our needs will either be given to the family to use for their own private services and/or given to a charity of the family's choosing. 

Thank you so very much for your generosity, we greatly appreciate it.  Let's give to Matt as much as he gave to us. 






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