The last year has forced a few groups to make some hard choices, but the Prince Albert Council of Women (PACW) announced one of their easiest decisions on Tuesday.

The PACW named longtime community advocate Delphine Melchert as the newest inductee into the Prince Albert Women’s Hall of Fame, something board members said was long overdue.

“It was a very easy decision,” PACW president Chrissy Halliday said during a phone interview. “Delphine has spent well over 20 years working tirelessly in our community for many different organizations…. I don’t think there’s a person in our community that Delphine’s work and Delphine’s life hasn’t touched.”

The PACW board credited Melchert for her years of dedication to improving literacy and education in Prince Albert, and for her ability to mentor other women. Melchert has spent 20 years coordinating the Community Networking Coalition, while also advocating for women facing intimate partner violence, and working on the City of Prince Albert’s Social Master Plan.

“She is so absolutely deserving of this,” PACW secretary-treasurer Rose Rothenburger said. “Everything she does, she does with so much compassion and so much determination. She just puts her head down and does the work.”

“I can tell you, Delphine has inspired a lot of women in our community,” Halliday added.

“It’s definitely an honour to induct her, because she does inspire a lot of other women. She makes sure that women are building each other up all the time.”

Halliday speaks from personal experience about Melchert’s ability to inspire others. She credits the 2022 Hall of Fame inductee with getting her involved in a number of committees and organizations in Prince Albert, and with showing her the ropes along the way.

Rothenburger credited Melchert for being the type of person who never sought out recognition, and that’s one of the reasons she deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.

“I really admire women like that,” Rothenburger said. “A lot of women are like that. They see a need, and they fill it. I think what puts Delphine a little bit ahead of other women is that she sees many needs and fills all of them.”

The induction ceremony will take place in early March, but the organizing committee is still hammering out the details. Halliday said they’ll have a scaled down version of the induction at City Hall, and look to return to the usual luncheon celebration in 2023.

Instead, Melchert and the two most recent inductees into the Women’s Hall of Fame—Laura Quesnel and Marjorie Bodnarchuk—will be honoured as a group at the 2023 event.