Roger Bourassa Receives AARP’s Highest Community Service Award

Roger Bourassa was named as the 2011 winner of the AARP Andrus Community Service Award. The award is named for AARP founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, an educator and tireless advocate of community service and volunteerism. Andrus coined the motto, “To Serve, Not to be Served”, which remains part of the AARP credo to this day.

See also: Maya Angelou, Andrus Award Winner

Bourassa is a native of Winooski, VT, and has devoted much of his life to community service in one form or another. In 2006 Roger was a founder of the Champlain Valley Advocacy Team at AARP Vermont – a volunteer group that pursues a legislative and advocacy agenda in the state and in Chittenden County. His commitment to public service, the community and his fellow citizens is remarkable and spans a broad spectrum of organizations and activities. He has worked for Habitat for Humanity, delivers Meals on Wheels, serves on the Colchester Development Review Board and is a tireless supporter of social justice and democracy causes in the U.S. and abroad. Bourassa is a former social studies teacher and later served as a high school principal in both Randolph and Winooski. He held the post of superintendent in the Orange Southwest, Colchester and Franklin West supervisory districts for a total of 17 years. He is a former Marine, National Guard member and a lieutenant colonel with the Air Force Academy.

“Roger provides an excellent example of the difference that volunteering can make in the lives of individuals and in the well-being and vitality of a community,” said Greg Marchildon, state director at AARP Vermont. “Through his various activities and commitments to public service, Roger shows us day after day how one person’s passion can lead others to action for the good of many. He truly embodies the spirit of the Andrus Award and his many accomplishments are a testament to the power of volunteerism.”

The purpose of the Andrus Community Service Award is to recognize outstanding AARP volunteers and members who are making a powerful difference in their communities, in ways that are consistent with AARP’s mission and vision and that inspire others to service.