Website Launched to Commemorate RFK’s 80th Birthday

Washington, DC—This November would have been Robert Kennedy’s 80th Birthday and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial has launched a website (www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/) to allow users to commemorate the event.

Robert Kennedy dedicated his life to creating a more just world and in the process he influenced generations of social, political and cultural leaders. The RFK 80th Birthday Commemoration Website (www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/) will be a place for those who admired RFK in life and those that still fight for his vision of social justice to gather and celebrate the man, his message and his legacy. The Memorial is hoping to give people who were inspired by RFK all across the United States and abroad an opportunity to share their stories, reflect on RFK’s legacy, and to work together for real social change.

The Website will have the most up to date information on the program of commemorative events the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial will be hosting in Washington, DC on November 16th, 2005. Also www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/ will have information on how to view these events via C-SPAN and webcasts. Users can register to attend the events or to receive updates on when the events will air on C-SPAN at www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/.

Website users can submit personal stories about how Robert Kennedy has affected their own lives at http://www.rfkmemorial.org/80th/ . Users will be able to share their stories and read the experiences of others in this electronic community. The website will serve as a living tribute to RFK and a way to reconnect the activists inspired by RFK’s vision and to relate his legacy to the next generation. The 80 best submitted stories will be published into a book tentatively scheduled to be released next spring.

The Website will allow users to register to become a part of The RFK Network, a new project of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial to bring together activists who were inspired by RFK to unite in support of human rights and social justice at home and abroad. The RFK Network will allow users to interact with the Memorial’s human rights programs and to reconnect with the diverse community that united behind RFK’s vision of social justice. Users can register for The RFK Network at http://www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/#network .

The Memorial is currently recruiting volunteer Local Chairs to help spread the word about the 80th Birthday Commemoration events and RFK’s legacy. . Anyone can signup via the internet, simply read the volunteer position description at http://www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/#second and fill out the web signup form. The Memorial is asking Local Chairs to email their friends about the events and broadcasts, to write to their local newspaper, or to put our event announcement in their local civic group, faith based organization or work bulletin or publication. Please visit http://www.rfkmemorial.org/rfk80th/#second for more details.

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit charitable organization that works to realize RFK’s dream of a peaceful and just world through domestic and international programs that help the disadvantaged and oppressed, build our next generation of leaders, and tackle the toughest problems facing our society.

Contact: Jeffrey Buchanan, 202-463-7575 ext 241
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"..if men are to be free for that "pursuit of happiness", which was the earliest promise of the American nation- we will need more than poverty programs, housing programs, and employment programs, although we need all of these. We will need an outpouring of imagination, ingenuity, discipline and hard work unmatched since the first adventurers set out to conquer the wilderness. For the problem is the largest we've ever known." — Robert F. Kennedy, Dec. 10, 1966