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Leif grew up in Maryland, but soon packed his bags for the West. After graduating from Whitworth University, Spokane, WA, he spent a year traveling through Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii, mostly cycling and camping, eventually returning to the States to earn an MA in Literature and Creative Writing at CU Boulder. The next stop was the Bay Area where he worked as an Instructional Designer for Apple for several years.

When Apple went through a major reorganization, Leif took the opportunity to return to the Flathead Valley where he had family roots, and purchased a literary magazine. He published Kinesis for five years, before starting a freelance writing business that he’s sustained for the last twenty-five years. Leif is a volunteer with the Flathead Food Bank and is the Senior Warden at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Whitefish/Columbia Falls. Both of these endeavors reflect his belief that “the best way (maybe the only way) to get below the surface and encounter the more meaningful is by committing to service to others.”

Leif reflects: “This is what MCC does; it gives kids the opportunity to serve others, get outside themselves, and realize that the world is a big place and that they inhabit only a small, albeit important, place within it. Kids grow when they spend a month with MCC.