Kelly Chahal was named the recipient of the Myrtle Evertt Woman of the Year Award on Thursday night.
The award is sponsored by the Business and Professional Women's Club of Abbotsford and was presented during a ceremony at the Phoenix Lounge.
Chahal is an Abbotsford city councillor who has volunteered with the Fraser Valley Indo Canadian Business Association and is a probation officer specializing in the supervision of sex offenders and high-risk cases.
She is also a director with the advisory committee for the Centre for Indo-Canadian Studies.
Four other women were nominated for the award: Brenda Falk, a city councillor and owner of Tanglebank Gardens; Deb Lowell, media spokesperson for the local Salvation Army; Kristal Barrett-Stuart, a country singer/songwriter and founder of the Sparkle Project; and Dorothy Van der Ree, executive director of the MSA Museum Society.
The Myrtle Evertt Woman of the Year Award and ceremony was established in 1994 to recognize and honour local women for achievement in business or in a profession. The nominees are women who make a difference in the community and who are role models for other women.
The Woman of the Year Award was named in honour of Myrtle Evertt, who was actively involved in the communities in which she lived over the years. She passed away at the age 87 on March 5, 2006.
To be nominated for the Myrtle Evertt Woman of the Year Award, a woman must:
• have lived in Abbotsford for a minimum of three years;
• be a role model whose success will encourage other women to take on business and professional challenges;
• have made a significant contribution in her place of employment, business or the community; and
• must be someone who demonstrates a balance in her commitments to employment, family,community and personal development.