Our Founder
Stella Burry is remembered as someone who made an outstanding contribution to her church and community. Born in Greenspond, Bonavista Bay she was the daughter of a fisherman and a mother who encouraged her to study. She began her professional career as a teacher but, troubled by the overwhelming poverty she encountered, returned to school in Ontario to pursue training in social work.
In 1938 she returned to Newfoundland to begin work on behalf of the Home Mission Board of the United Church of Canada, and this would be a vocation that occupied her for the rest of her life and characterized her as a pioneer social worker in this country.
Brief studies in New York introduced Dr. Burry to methods of practice that she would introduce in Newfoundland. The use of group discussion and the provision of secure, supportive housing offered a community development model that flourished in St. John’s. As the founder of Emmanuel House in 1945, she sought to provide a place for people with a variety of needs including food, shelter, friendship and counseling.
Stella Burry was also a founding member of the Community Services Council and the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for the Aging. She was named Citizen of the Year by the St. John’s Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1967 and was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree in 1971 by the Atlantic School of Theology.
She passed away in 1991 at the age of 93, but the work that she had begun almost 50 years earlier continued at Emmanuel House. In 1995, in memory of its founder – the visionary who recognized that a secure source food and shelter are essential requirements before one can address other life issues – the organization now known as Stella Burry Community Services was established.
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