Jennifer Meeropol is the granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the daughter of RFC Founder, Robert Meeropol. Jenn became the Executive Director of the RFC on September 1, 2013. Prior posts on this page were written by Robert (unless otherwise noted), and represent his opinions, which are not necessarily shared by the RFC.
This summer felt bookended for me by Camp Kinderland in a way I haven’t experienced since I was a teenager attending the camp. In early July, I attended a visiting day at Kinderland to see my teenage niece, who has been going to camp with her cousin for years, and is now a CIT (counselor in training). And in late August, that same niece arrived for our two week family vacation midway through our time on the Cape, fresh from seven weeks at camp. She was exhausted from busy days and not much sleep and mourning having had to say goodbye to her friends.
As I reflect on this anniversary, I’m struck by how much has changed over the past decade while the core of our work has remained consistent. Since 2013 we launched the Exonerate Ethel campaign, celebrated the RFC’s 25th and 30th anniversaries and went from just under $5 million granted in our history to almost $9 million awarded as of the spring of 2023. We increased our annual granting from $370,000 per year and 150 grants in 2012 to over $410,000 annually and almost 170 grants last year.
My name is Damian, and I'm excited to share my story with you. I'm a Mexican, gay, cis-gender male with learning disabilities, and I've always been passionate about learning new skills and expressing myself through fashion. Right now, I'm on an amazing journey to pursue a college degree and career in social work. These aspects of my identity and interests shape how I see the world and how I want to make a difference in it. One thing that has been truly important on this journey is the incredible support I've received, including grants for tutoring and academic help from the RFC.
As I mentioned in my May 17th blog post, “70th Anniversary Prep: Connections and Stories,” I’ve spent a lot of time the last few months planning for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of my grandparents’ executions.
My grandparents were executed 70 years ago today. In their final letter to my father and uncle they wrote: “We died secure in the knowledge that others would carry on after us.” Since 1990, support from thousands of people allowed first my dad, and more recently me, to justify my grandparents' faith and convert the destruction that was visited upon our family into the Rosenberg Fund for Children.