Marie Burge receives Leo Cheverie Lifetime Achievement Award from VRC
Award honours Marie's work
The Leo Cheverie Lifetime Achievement Award was created to honour the legacy of Leo Cheverie who worked tirelessly for social justice.
At the Voluntary Resource Council's (VRC) Annual Fundraiser and Breakfast, Marie Burge received the Leo Cheverie Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her many decades of work.
In honouring Marie, Ann Wheatley, VRC President, gave the following speech:
When the VRC established the Leo Cheverie Lifetime Achievement Volunteer Award in 2023, we said: “Volunteering can take many forms. For Leo, it was often about organizing for positive change, engaging community members and laying out the case for decision-makers to create policies and programs that make life better for people and that protect the environment.”
To say that Marie Burge has exemplified all of the above, throughout her life, would be an understatement. As a founding member of Cooper Institute, Family Reunification PEI, the PEI Working Group for a Livable Income, Islanders for Proportional Representation, the Coalition for the Protection of PEI Lands – just to name a few – Marie has been a (some would say supernatural) force for positive change in this province, and far beyond.
Running through all of Marie’s involvements is her steadfast belief in the power of engaging community and ensuring that we all have a role in creating the kind of world we want to see.
Marie’s style of community development is informed by her experience in the Dominican Republic as a missionary with the Latin American Mission Program in the 1970s. Although she doesn’t exactly embrace the title of teacher, many of us have learned from her the value, and excitement of, working for change by engaging people most affected by issues or challenges, validating their experiences, facilitating analysis and identifying solutions and taking action. She’s also “taught” us the importance of making connections between what we are experiencing locally and what’s happening globally.
Marie has been instrumental in welcoming many, many newcomers to Prince Edward Island, taking on years, in some cases, of paperwork to make it possible for people to immigrate to PEI from countries all over the world, especially Latin America. She has raised funds for countless causes and individuals in need of support. She has done this sometimes in the context of one of the groups she is involved in, but more often than not, by herself.
Marie’s work – which includes countless hours of organizing and facilitating workshops, writing briefs, papers and letters and presenting to government bodies – has resulted in policies and programs that have brought us closer to ensuring all Islanders a livable income, that better protect our land and water, that better meet the needs of people affected by violence and abuse, and that promote acceptance of and respect for the diversity of our communities.
Congratulations to Marie and thank you to the VRC for continuing to remember the legacy of Leo Cheverie!
