Gross names Charles DeSeve and Debo Burk Lord and Lady Fairfax

Debo Burk

Burk and DeSeve will be honored during the May 17 Board of Supervisors meeting – along with the Lord and Lady Fairfax honorees named by the other supervisors – and at a dinner on June 7 at the Fairfax County Government Center as part of the annual Celebrate Fairfax! festival.

Burk has been a leader in both the Broyhill Crest Community Association and the Broyhill Crest Recreation Club in Annandale for the past 25 years. She is a Master Gardener, an adapted aquatics volunteer for children with special needs, and an election officer.

More recently, she has assisted with fundraising and scholarship selection for the foundation created in memory of young Clayton Joyner, the former swimming coach at Falls Church High School and Holmes Run Pool.

Burk also created the RAK (random acts of kindness) Pack, coordinating local volunteer activities with those in search of community service projects. She serves meals to the homeless, wraps presents for needy children, and coordinates the removal of invasive species from a local park.

Gross calls Burk “one of those premier volunteers who helps maintain and improve the quality of life in Mason District and Fairfax County.”

DeSeve is the longtime chair of the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District’s (WID) board of directors. Under his leadership, the WID developed a closer working relationship with Fairfax County, the City of Alexandria, and Virginia’s dam safety program and secured funding for an emergency warning system and backup equipment for dam operations in the event of severe storms.

As part of the maintenance of the lake and the needs of more than 1,000 WID members, DeSeve negotiated, with help from Gross, an agreement to dispose of dredge soil at the Lorton construction debris landfill at no cost. He also established a million-dollar reserve and 10-year plan for needed repairs and restoration to keep the massive Lake Barcroft dam functioning as designed.