Twenty years ago, an unfulfilled corporate lawyer with a remarkable personal history sat up in bed and realized what he wanted to do with his life: start an organization to honor his parents’ legacy and help kids who were experiencing the same sort of nightmare he and his brother did as children. That lawyer was Robert Meeropol, and the organization that he immediately got to work building was the Rosenberg Fund for Children.
In May 1990, Robert attended the first RFC fundraising party at the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in Chicago. In September 1990, the RFC incorporated as a public foundation and held its first major public event that October: a benefit concert in Northampton, MA that starred Pete Seeger, Richie Havens, Country Joe McDonald and Jane Sapp. In May 1991, the RFC gave away its first grants, totaling $805, to send two children of a political prisoner to summer camp.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the birth of the RFC and all the milestones along the way, the RFC will be holding a series of 20 parties or other events, in 20 cities, over 20 months, starting now! Events are confirmed in coming days and weeks in Albany, NY; Seattle; Buffalo and Rochester, NY; Providence, RI; and Berkeley, CA. We also plan to hold another event at Bill and Bernadine’s Chicago home in May 2010, 20 years after they helped us launch our project.
Other possible locations include Albuquerque or Santa Fe; Atlanta; Boston; Brooklyn; Cleveland; DC/Baltimore; Denver or Boulder; Detroit/Ann Arbor; Florida; Hartford, CT; Los Angeles; Madison, WI; New Jersey; New York City; Northampton, MA; Pittsburgh; Puerto Rico; Santa Cruz, CA; San Diego; San Francisco; Tucson; Vermont; and Westchester, NY.
If your city or region is on this list and you’d like to get involved in making an RFC 20th anniversary event happen, please contact Amber Black, our Public Relations Coordinator, at amber@rfc.org or (413) 529-0063. The biggest needs we have are for help compiling mailing lists for invitations, and hosts to offer their homes. But other assistance is vital, too, from making food to publicizing the events within local, progressive communities.
If your city is not on this list but you think it should be, let us know! Our itinerary is flexible and will be determined by our supporters: Robert and when possible, his daughter Jenn (the RFC’s next generation of leadership), will attend events wherever the interest is strongest.
(For details on upcoming RFC events, click here.)
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