Melchert honored for volunteerism
Posted: Dec. 21, 2023
When Debra Melchert recently retired as a volunteer for the Village of Tinley Park, she had amassed an impressive 30 years of service to the community.
“Volunteering helps fill the time when I’m not busy with my other passions, which include taking care of the family, cooking and baking,” she said.
Debra, who is known to friends and family as Deb, was honored at Tuesday's Village Board meeting for her decades of dedicated service. Friends and family were in attendance as Mayor Michael Glotz read a proclamation recognizing Deb for her work with the Village and congratulating her on her retirement.
It was all a fitting end to Deb's years of volunteerism, which began after a friend asked if she would help out at Darefest in 1993. She did such as good job at the event that she was asked to join the D.A.R.E. Committee shortly thereafter.
It wasn’t long before Reta Brudd, the former chairperson of the Human Resources Commission (later renamed the Community Resources Commission, or CRC), asked if Deb would be interested in joining. Deb said she was, beginning a long and storied history of service to the community that has spanned decades.
Through her work with the CRC and later the Marketing Commission, which absorbed members of the former in 2019, Deb has been a very active volunteer who has helped out at numerous Village events throughout the years, including Holiday Happenings, the Irish Parade, the Downtown Tinley Boo Bash and the Tinley Park Block Party, just to name a few.
“I love seeing people being happy and enjoying themselves,” Deb said. “It’s also great to get through a two- or three-day event and hear all the compliments from the residents, knowing a good chunk of the successful event was pulled off by a small army of volunteers. As the old adage says, ‘ ‘tis better to give than receive.’ It was a blessing to be a part of that army.”
Deb was born and raised in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago. She married Robert Melchert in 1979, and together they raised two sons, Bob and Dan. The family moved to Tinley Park in 1986 and quickly grew to love the neighborhood and community.
Deb has been a member of the American Legion Auxiliary for 16 years and the Patriot Guard Riders for more than 20 years, and is a founding member of Post 615 Legion Riders.
“The Village is eternally grateful for Deb’s years of dedicated volunteerism to the Village,” Marketing Director Donna Framke said. “She’s one of a kind, and we’ll definitely miss her unique sense of humor. We wish her nothing but the best in her future adventures.”
Never one to be shy to speak her mind, Deb likes her coffee black, can’t stand pepperoni on her pizza, and credits a Southern Comfort Manhattan as her favorite cocktail.
If you want more details, Deb is happy to tell you herself – but she draws the line when it comes to scales.
“I’m 64 … well, a lot closer to 65,” Melchert said. “I’m 5’5” and I weigh … none of your damn business!”
Please join the Village in wishing Deb a very happy retirement!