Hamilton couple started fund that's raised more than $2 million to help Burmese refugees

Submitted photoRetired Colgate Professor Thomas Brackett (white hat) visits refugees in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh during a recent mission trip. Over the past 15 years, two retired Colgate University professors have raised more than $2 million to improve the lives of Burmese refugees living in Thailand, northeast India and Bangladesh.

The Brackett Refugee Education Fund was founded in 1997 by Tom and Liz Brackett and their colleague, John Novak of Washington State University.

The fund provides 50 grants a year to allow students to attend high school or vocational training. The nonprofit also funds university scholarships for 250 students in Thailand and India.

Their list of success stories includes teachers, foresters and ecologists, nurses, social workers and lawyers. Some students went on to work for the United Nations or aid organizations.

The nonprofit this month kicked off its annual campaign to raise money for programming in 2013. The couple will return to southeast Asia in March, returning in April.

The Bracketts, who live in Hamilton, learned of the plight of Burmese refugees while on sabbatical in 1992. They decided to dedicate their retirement to helping educate those forced from Burma, which is now called Myanmar, by the ruling military.

In 1997, the fund awarded two scholarships and spent about $6,000.

Today, nearly 70 percent of the nonprofit’s $250,000 annual operating budget is derived from individual donors, Liz Brackett said.

The program includes financial assistance for families to allow them to send their children to school.

“For the very poor, even young children are a support for the family,” said Tom Brackett. “The family in some cases cannot even afford to send their children to a school that is free.”

Other projects include:

ÖStarting boarding homes for orphaned and other children whose parents cannot support them while they attend school.

ÖFunding primary schools and teachers inside sections of Burma.

ÖHelping refugees learn the language of their host country.

Although there are growing refugee populations in Utica and Syracuse, the Bracketts said they have focused their work on the refugees living in Southeast Asia.

“We want them to return to their people with their newfound skills to help their people,” Tom Brackett said. “That is the best payment we could ask for.”
Contact Alaina Potrikus at apotrikus@syracuse.com or 470-3252. 

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