The MAPS Mary & Manuel Rogers Lifetime Community Service Award is presented to the individual who best exemplifies the spirit of lifetime service to the Portuguese-speaking communities that Mary and Manuel Rogers demonstrated throughout their lives. The late Mr. Rogers was a longtime Cambridge resident, owner of the Rogers Funeral Home and a steadfast community benefactor. His wife, Mary, son Manuel Rogers Jr. and their family have continued that tradition.
Award Recipients:
2025: Edilia Gomes, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and Founder, Healing Hearts Care Center
2023: Nailze Lima, Intake Coordinator, Support Staff, and Interpreter, MetroWest Legal Services
2019: Dorothy, Mark, Philip and Jake Chaves
2018: Osvalda Rodrigues, MA, Former MAPS Program Director
2017: Ana Nava, Phd, LICSW, Team Leader, Portuguese Mental Health Clinic, Cambridge Health Alliance
2016: Victor Do Couto, MMHS, Former MAPS Executive Director and Board Member
2015: Joel Schwartz, Board Member, CVC UNIDO & founding Director, Moving from Debt to Assets
2014: Duarte Carvalho, CEO & Principal, Riverside Management Group
2013: Donaldo Macedo, PhD, EdD, Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics at University of Massachusetts Boston
2012: Eduardo “Eddie” Sousa, A longtime key volunteer in the Portuguese community
2011: The late Dorothea Clinton, Longtime community leader in the Cambridge/Somerville area
2010: Margarida Serpa, Retired Director of the Multi-Lingual Program at the Malden School Department
2009: The late Jack Hamilton, Retired Executive Director, Community Action Agency of Somerville
2008: Virginia Simas, Volunteer at St. Anthony’s Church, Cambridge
2007: The late Father José Ferreira, Pastor at St. Anthony’s Church, Cambridge
2006: Ana Morais, Ethnic Librarian for the Cambridge Public Library
2005: John Barros, Executive Director, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
2004: Paulo Godinho, Lowell Community Leader and Volunteer
2003: Ana Velasco, Brazilian Community Activist and Educator
2002: Lowell Mayor Rita Mercier
2001: José Maria Barros, Cape Verdean Community Activist
2000: Maria D. Cunha, Lowell Activist, former Aide to US Rep. Marty Meehan
1999: Georgette E. Gonsalves, Boston School Department
1998: Gladys Picanso, Lowell Community Activist
1997: José Macedo, Attorney and Community Activist
1996: Ligia Do Couto Taylor, Community Volunteer and former MAPS Board Member
1995: Manuel Rogers, Jr., Community Philanthropist and Businessman