Hi, my name is Michael and I am raising money for a memorial fund in honor of my wife Rachel Brickman. The Rachel Brickman Memorial Fund will be established to send women union members to college.

 

Rachel grew up on her mother's dairy farm in Dexter, Michigan and graduated from Dexter High School (class of '86). She then went to college at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Upon graduating from college, she was promptly recruited as a trainee union organizer by District 1199 WV/OH/KY-Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Hired on a probationary basis, she was expected to start and win three organizing campaigns in her first year as a condition for permanent employment. Not only did Rachel do this, she earned a reputation across SEIU for winning her first 10 campaigns. The recognition of her achievements was not confined SEIU. The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story profile of Rachel, along with one of its famous "dot drawings", under the headline: "Why Rachel Brickman of Sarah Lawrence organizes workers."

 

Rachel and I met while working at District 1199. We decided to move to New York City to start a life together. We both continued to work as organizers for a few years, but we both eventually switched careers. Rachel got her teaching degree from Bank Street and went to work in New York City public schools. Rachel commented at the time that teaching was similar to organizing, "just with littler people".

 

Daughter Maude was born in 2005 and we moved to Davis, California shortly thereafter. Former colleagues at District 1199 had recently been assigned to rebuild a troubled healthcare workers' local in California and Rachel was convinced to go back to work for United Healthcare Workers West-SEIU, where she worked on the senior staff of the union recruiting and mentoring new organizers.

 

In 2012 Rachel was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, the same disease that afflicted her mother. We decided to focus on new adventures rather than new limitations and moved to London, England, where we stayed until 2019. With Rachel's condition worsening we returned and Rachel moved back to Michigan where she could be cared for by her sister Kate and be in the company of her childhood and college friends. She died in September 2021, silenced and immobilized by Parkinson's.

 

Rachel always preferred spaces like organizing campaigns and classrooms where she could be free to mobilize her skills without being impeded by others. Rachel was a teacher and an organizer who always worked to help people understand their own power. It is with this in mind that the Rachel Brickman Memorial Fund will help women union members earn their BA degrees by helping to fund their tuition via a gift. The Memorial Fund will be administered by United Healthcare Workers' West-SEIU. The money raised in this gofundme campaign will provide the startup funding for the Memorial Fund and will be matched by Michael and Maude.

 

Thank you for reading and thank you for your contribution (should you decide to make one).

 

Michael