August, 2022
Written by Linda Goodrick

Are you ready to meet a talented and energetic supporter of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, who is making a difference in many lives both here and in Africa?

LueRachelle Brim-Atkins joined Grandmothers in 2017 and it is an important organization to her because she feels people listen to the ‘wisdom of our elders’. You can see this again and again in LueRachelle’s story.

LueRachelle grew up in the small town of Naples in Morns County, Texas where her maternal grandmother taught her to share, to be a hard worker and to say with pride when LueRachelle describes herself, “What you see, is what you get!” Her grandparents established the first high school there for African American kids in the county. Prior to that the school for Black children ended at 8th grade. Her grandmother taught Home Economics and her grandfather was the school Principal. For 40 years they sent the most promising students to college by ongoing fundraising. 

LueRachelle followed in their footsteps after she got her master’s degree in urban education in Rochester, NY, and became a ‘hands on’ teacher of 1st grade and then 8th grade students in Rochester. She would have all the kids to dinner and the girls would spend the night. 50 years later 3 of those students came to Seattle for a visit and to tell her: “You were the first teacher who saw us for who we were and encouraged us to be more.” 

While a teacher in Rochester, she visited her 2 cousins at the University of Washington (UW) and liked Seattle or perhaps disliked the Rochester winters more, so she interviewed for a job at UW, was hired and moved here in 1972. She met Grandmothers member, Donna Stringer there and began their life-long friendship. 

During her life’s journey, LueRachelle dealt with the death of her fiancée at age 23, chose her mantra “Creating and grabbing joy, I change the world”, raised 2 children and has never forgotten her mother’s advice: “If in doubt, don’t”! She feels blessed to have 6 grandchildren and making the world a better place for the world’s children motivates her. She has served on many Boards including the Children’s Home Society and the Board of First Place School, a former school that cared for homeless and at-risk kids. She also served 7 years on Leadership Tomorrow’s Board and has worked with the organization since 1988. Leadership Tomorrow is a community program offering training, experience and leadership opportunities to diverse nominees aged 20 - 70, who are selected annually for a year of learning these skills together. She got a second master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology to elevate her work in racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Like all talented ‘in demand’ people, LueRachelle is protective of her time and only serves on Boards if she feels she can make a difference. 

Her current passion is serving as Co-President of Seattle-Limbe Sister City Association, SLSCA. Limbe, Cameroon is a natural seaport of 84,000 on the west coast of Africa with the biggest and most tasty shrimp she has ever eaten. (The country’s name comes from the Portuguese explorers, who were impressed by the prawns in Rio dos Camaroes, “River of Prawns”). The biggest project SLSCA has completed to date is a bore hole/well for the Limbe Regional Hospital. The Municipal water supply is not reliable, so the bore hole is a huge improvement. It took 5 years to plan, coordinate and fund and several Seattle Rotary Clubs contributed the needed funds to make it happen. The government requires each new bore hole to have a ‘stand tap’/faucet for the community to collect water they need as well. SLSCA’s other major project is making washable menstrual care kits so the African girls can stay in school during their periods. Under her leadership, SLSCA created ‘Sewing Circles’ at her church, First African Methodist Episcopal Church and at Baitul Ehsan Mosque in Monroe, at Seattle’s Assumption Catholic Church and at Beth Shalom Synagogue. This cross-cultural group works together across the artificial barriers of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and age.

Seattle has 21 Sister Cities around the world and in February 2023 she’s taking 12 delegates to Cape Town, South Africa for the Sister City African Summit.

LueRachelle loves laughter and no surprise, travel!  Growing up in Texas, she never dreamed she would eventually be able to travel the world. Her favorite trip? Mali, Africa, Morocco, Egypt, and and and....  She has taken 2 of her granddaughters to Limbe and has one left who is deciding where to go when it’s her turn to travel with Granna.

In addition to her volunteer work, LueRachelle has worked for the last 30 years in her own business, Brim-Donahoe and Associates “to teach people how to talk to each other”. She helps organizations collaborate, be inclusive and learn to exhibit social justice behaviors. Most of her clients come by word of mouth and her reputation precedes her, which explains why retirement isn’t in her plans. Too many people still want and need her help.  To keep an open mind and understand people are ‘who they are’ is very challenging but it’s the trait she considers most relevant to her success. “You can’t get a flower to grow by pulling on it” is one of her sage comments. 

She’s also a member of the Pacific Northwest African American Quilters group. The exhibit of their quilts at Dunn Gardens was featured in the Seattle Times Sunday “Pacific NW” section. She started quilting 40 years ago, stopped while she raised her children and began again 15 years ago. Her exercise routine found her at the Central Area Senior Center weekly but sadly she fell at home recently and broke her leg in 3 places, so rest and rehab will fill her calendar for the next several weeks. One story she shared about the YWCA in Seattle’s past is that their downtown pool was open to black Americans only on Sundays, after which it would be drained and refilled for the whites to use until the next Sunday. Fighting this type of bigotry has been her life’s work.

Grandmothers Against Gun Violence is important to LueRachelle because she feels that the age limit to own guns should be raised from 18 to 21 and that assault weapons be banned from civilian’s possession and only available for the military.  She understands how slow the process of change is but also how essential it is to keep pushing until we succeed in changing our laws. With Grandmothers being a lobbying organization, she sees this organization as a way to work toward making those changes permanent.

With her larger-than-life personality, LueRachelle has a love of humanity, is sensitive to children’s needs around the world and understands that diversity is strength.