Hello everyone,

I hope you, your families, and your immediate community are okay in this very trying moment. I’m sure that the worldwide upheaval from the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every member of the RFC community in some way.

Here's how the RFC is adjusting in the short term to this crisis:

1. GRANTING: We are committed to continuing our granting process with as little disruption to our beneficiary  families as possible. We have extended our spring application deadline to March 31st, and our Board is meeting soon to discuss how to respond to this crisis.
    
2. REMOTE WORK: RFC staff have begun working from home. We’ve enhanced our pre-existing abilities to connect virtually to each other, and to our work. We’re checking our voice mail regularly, but far and away the best and fastest way to reach us is email. My address is jenn@rfc.org. You can reach our Granting Coordinator Sophie at granting@rfc.org, and our Communications Director Amber at amber@rfc.org. We’re also figuring out a schedule for staff to take turns going into the office briefly, once or twice a week, to respond to surface mail and faxes.
    
3. OPERATIONS: For the time being, aside from working remotely, our day-to-day operations are mostly unaffected, except for communications and materials that come and go from our office via fax or surface mail. For instance, we may be slower to deposit checks, send you written acknowledgement letters and other correspondence, or respond to faxes.
    
4. 30th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION: In light of recent CDC and other recommendations we’re assessing how to alter our plans for our 30th Anniversary Celebration, currently scheduled for May 9th. We’re working as diligently as we can to decide on our path forward, in the midst of rapidly evolving information.
   
   While we figure out what to do, we’re temporarily suspending event ticket sales until we announce a new plan – which we hope to do within a matter of days. At that point, we’ll also share how we’ll handle ticket sales that have already occurred.
    
5. FINANCES: At this time, we don’t know the full impact on our finances, but we know they will be affected . At the same time, we know that our beneficiary families, who are already very vulnerable, isolated, and living with a lot of stress, are going to be hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 fallout. We also know that our supporters will be affected in many ways, but that collectively, you are generous, caring, and deeply committed to supporting the children of resistance. We hope that you’ll be in a position to continue financially supporting the RFC at this precarious time, so that we, in turn, can help our grantee families.

Please bear with us as we work through the complexities of this unprecedented situation, while prioritizing the health and well-being of our grantees, staff, board, and entire RFC community. We aim to come up with creative ways to maintain and even grow a sense of community, and gain strength and encouragement from one another at a time we’ll all surely need it.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and don’t hesitate to reach out to me at jenn@rfc.org with any questions or concerns.

In solidarity,

Jenn Meeropol
Executive Director