December 20, 2022 marked ten years since Leichtag Foundation closed escrow on the former Ecke Ranch, now Leichtag Commons.
A few weeks after we took ownership of the property in 2012, we gathered some who had been most important to the acquisition decision at our first Tu B’Shvat, where we put shovel to the ground, marking our first planting as well as our hopes and dreams for the future.
This year, we again gather those who joined us then and those who have been closest to the community impact that we could have only dreamed of back in those early days of 2013. We will reflect and look forward—planting again, dreaming of a future from strength to strength. We will also take the opportunity to remember those who were most dear to us who we have lost in the last decade, especially:
Naomi Rabkin z”l
Murray Galinson z”l
Sheldon “Shep” Scharlin z”l
And of course
Max “Lee” Leichtag z”l and Andre “Toni” Leichtag z”l
Joli Ann Leichtag z”l
You have been instrumental in shaping Leichtag Commons into a home for Jewish experiences, social entrepreneurship, experimentation, community impact, and deep connection with land.
We hope you’ll join us to celebrate and look eagerly forward together.
Our reception immediately follows Coastal Roots Farm’s Food Forest Festival. We hope you will enjoy the Food Forest Festival with us as part of attending our 10 Year celebration! Learn more about the Food Forest Festival here.
Stacie and Jeff Cook understand commitment. They live it.
Black, Jewish and Queer. These three identities weave the fabric of who I am, but it took a long time to believe that they could exist together.
Lee and Toni Leichtag established the Leichtag Foundation in 1991 following the sale of their business. Lee and Toni were lifelong entrepreneurs with a passion for innovation and for supporting talent. They believed that only with big risk comes big reward. Both born to families in poverty, Toni to a single mother, they strongly believed in helping those most in need and most vulnerable in our community. While they supported many causes, their strongest support was for young children and the elderly, two demographics who particularly lack voice in our society.
Lifelong Baltimoreans, Rabbi George and Alison Wielechowski and their sons, 11-year-old Lennon and 9-year-old Gideon, are more than pursuing the good life in Southern California. Having moved to San Diego more than three years ago, they are fulfilling a lifelong dream.
You would think that as the executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Fernando Zweifach López Jr., who uses the pronoun they, has done all the coming out they possibly can. A queer, non-binary individual who has worked for many years on civil rights issues, López also speaks openly and often about their father’s family, Mexican-American migrant workers who tilled the fields of rural California.