For decades, Constance Melahoures has worked to make sure Plymouth residents experiencing homelessness have somewhere warm and safe to sleep, food to eat and, ultimately, a path toward permanent housing.
On Sept. 20, that work was recognized when Melahoures was named the inaugural recipient of the Gregory Peace Prize, honoring a Plymouth resident whose compassion, courage and commitment to social justice, humanitarian service and community have made a difference in the lives of others. The Prize was a joint effort of the Gregory Family, The Plymouth International City of Peace Committee (ICoP), the Plymouth Noontime Rotary, the Peace Abbey, the Plymouth for All Committee and the Plymouth League of Women Voters.
“For me and for the Plymouth Task Force, it’s been about making sure that people have a warm, safe place to sleep in the winter months and food to eat,” Melahoures said in accepting the award at the Plymouth Center for the Arts. “More than that, we have collaborated with others in moving unhoused individuals into permanent housing.”
Alice Lague, chairperson, Plymouth ICoP Committee, who led the effort for Plymouth to be named the 451st International City of Peace, said Melahoures’ nomination emerged from a long list of qualified candidates.
“Choosing a single winner was extremely difficult in light of the impressive work that is being done by so many of those who were nominated,” Lague said. “What is important to emphasize is that all of the nominees are peace representatives of Plymouth and their contributions have been invaluable to our community.”
The winner was selected from 17 nominees, with 37 people submitting nominations for the inaugural award. She was nominated by several members of the community.
Melahoures’ work with people experiencing homelessness distinguished her.
“The Gregory Peace Prize recognizes those whose compassion, courage, and commitment to social justice, humanitarian service and strengthening of community,” Lague said.
“Connie’s leadership and vision have been to support and value the most vulnerable members of our community, the unhoused,” Lague said. “If peace begins in how we treat each other, Connie models how to embrace everyone with dignity and respect.”
Those who nominated Melahoures cited her moral courage, commitment to nonviolence, compassion and empathy, integrity, resilience, coalition building, vision and hope.
“Connie has spent decades refusing to look away from people whom the rest of us can too easily fail to see,” Lague said, reading from comments submitted by the nominators. “Through her leadership with the Plymouth Task Force to End Homelessness, Melahoures has helped bring together churches, volunteers, social service organizations, town government, donors and other community partners to provide emergency shelter, food, supportive services and pathways to permanent housing.”
The task force has pursued the more difficult and lasting goal of helping people move out of homelessness and into permanent housing. It has acquired two properties in North Plymouth that provide homes for formerly unhoused people, based on the principle that stable housing is a fundamental need and that other challenges can be addressed once that need is met.
Melahoures has also been instrumental in founding and running Plymouth’s Overnights of Hospitality, the community’s winter emergency shelter program. Local churches open their doors during the coldest months to provide people experiencing homelessness with a warm meal and a safe place to sleep. She continues to serve as the program’s coordinator, including last winter when most were safe indoors and the winter weather raged outside.
But her work has never been limited to providing a bed for a night.
“Connie’s vision has always extended beyond providing shelter for just one single night,” said Lillian Gregory, for whom the award is named along with her late husband, comedian and civil rights leader Dick Gregory. The couple moved their family to Plymouth in 1973, and devoted much of their lives to civil rights, nonviolence and humanitarian causes.
Gregory, 95, attended the ceremony along with five of her children.
“This event is an opportunity to honor the good and important work carried out by people, dedicated people, who live in Plymouth, who work towards creating and sustaining peace,” said Michelle Gregory, the couples’ eldest child.
“It’s also a reminder that it’s important to celebrate all that is good, because it helps us remember that so much work towards peace does take place, and it will continue,” Gregory said. “It’s very easy to stand up and fight for those who look like you and share your common experiences. It takes a whole different kind of person to care about and advocate for those who don’t.”
“Our family couldn’t be more pleased to honor Connie as the inaugural recipient of the Gregory Peace Prize,” she said. “She embodies and lives the example of peacemaking in action.”
Melahoures has built relationships across Plymouth’s civic and religious communities, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and worked to purchase and renovate structures to house people experiencing homelessness. Her community involvement has extended beyond that work to education, church leadership, Town Meeting and other civic and volunteer roles. Prior to her community focus, she taught science and social studies at Cold Spring Elementary School and then vice principal of West Elementary School until she retired in 2003.
Melahoures received citations from the Town of Plymouth and members of the state legislative delegation recognizing her community service.
Deb Iaquinto, Chair of the Plymouth Select Board described her work as “filling in the gaps in humanity. You recognize that everybody deserves that roof over their head, deserves that respect every single day.”
Massachusetts State Representative Michelle Badger focused on the perseverance behind the peace prize winner’s long record of service. Badger, along with State Representative Kathleen LaNatra, presented the citations.
“You’ve had so many roadblocks that you persevere because you did it for the greater good,” Badger said. “But you give us all hope, Connie. You give us all hope.”
One of the most personal tributes came from Bill Keohan, Plymouth Select Board Member, who called her “my neighbor, my friend, and my inspiration.”
“I grew up around the family,” said Keohan, whose family lived near the Melahoures family since 1969. “And as I started to embark on my public service and my volunteer efforts, I was inspired by people like Connie.”
In her remarks, Melahoures shifted the attention away from herself and toward the people who have worked alongside her.
“There have been many in this community who have stepped up to assist in these efforts, many of whom might be in this room today,” she said. “While we all can’t rise to the level of a Dick and Lillian Gregory, we can make a difference on our own, in our own way.”
“While much has been done, there’s still more to do,” she said. “And each one of us in this room can be part of that.”
The other nominees included: Keyanna Adarkwah, Meg Ash, Celia Canavan, Neal Eaton, Lori Fitzpatrick, Madeline Gomes, Michael Kelly, Heidi Mayo, Jon Plante, Jennifer McGuiver, Nancy Morse, Richard Quintal, Kristin Thomas, Louis Randa, Margaret Sheehan, and Rabbi Lawrence Silverman.
“Let us continue to bear witness to the power of peace and love not only here in Plymouth on the International Day of Peace but throughout the coming year,” Lague said. “Connie’s life and work have demonstrated that peace is more than the absence of conflict. It is also the commitment to stand by our neighbors, especially those who might otherwise be forgotten.”
Julia Marie Davis can be reached at julia@plymouthindependent.org.