Guylene Strange honored with YMCA’s Ottaviano award

Guylene Strange isn’t kidding when she calls the Ottawa YMCA her home, and whether that home is located at its address on East Jackson Street or at the new building going up on Canal Street, she wants others to feel the same way about it.

And others now have shown they appreciate her devotion, too.

Strange, who for the last 35 years has been the Y’s devoted youth and family director, was presented recently with the YMCA’s Matt Ottaviano Outstanding Program Director of the Year.

The Matt Ottaviano Award is named for the former executive director of the Lawson YMCA in Chicago and the vice president of operations for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, who was known as an honest, fair, intelligent and friendly cause-driven leader.

It recognizes a program director who displays exceptional leadership, commitment and the attributes of being a cause-driven leader in program areas, such as resident camp, day camp, child care, arts and humanities, youth services, youth sports, gymnastics and teen programming.

My passion, the reason I do this work, is for the community, getting kids involved, ones who need care and wouldn’t be able to come to day camp if it wasn’t for our scholarship programs.

—  Guylene Strange, Ottawa YMCA youth and family director

Strange admitted she was “completely surprised” by the honor Sept. 28 at the Illinois Staff Rally in Bloomington.

“I was not signed up to go to the meeting this year,” Strange said, “but Joe (Capece, the Ottawa Y executive director) called to tell me I was signed up and going. I said OK and went with two coworkers … At the meeting, they had a slide show of bullet points to emphasize, it glitched and my name came up on the screen before they read the award. I thought ‘That was weird,’ but then they read the award and I knew. It was very shocking, very humbling.”

Strange has worked doing exactly what her title implies, families and youth, but is particularly proud of the work the Y has done with preschools students, the pre-school and after-school programs and the summer camps.

Asked to cite one out of the many examples of that work, she told the story of Corey, a young girl who was 4 years old when they met. The youth was suffering through brain cancer and, with her work at the Y and the help of the St. Jude Children’s Cancer Research Hospital, beat that disease and has been an active member of the Y since.

“They call her my Mini-Me. She likes to be the boss,” Strange said. “She’s doing great now.

“My passion, the reason I do this work, is for the community, getting kids involved, ones who need care and wouldn’t be able to come to day camp if it wasn’t for our scholarship programs. That’s where my heart is, helping kids who wouldn’t get that experience to be included.”

Strange appreciates the sacrifices her family – her husband, Tim, daughter Nicole and son Jordan – have made so she could pursue her tireless work at the Y, as well as being the coach for the Cavalettes dance team at La Salle-Peru High School.

She also appreciates the old Y building and what a large part of her life it’s been, but she’s looking forward to the new digs.

“I’m excited for the new building and to be a part of that,” Strange said. “Being here for so long, I’ve seen so many changes here over the years and I know I’ll miss it. It’s been home for me.

“Now we’re moving to this state-of-the-art building that we could only dream about 30-some years ago. It will be a breath of fresh air for our community … One of my coworkers asked me if I wondered about the legacy I’d leave there, picking out many of the things like chairs and for the playground going into that building. It’s true that’s where I’ll be when I retire in a few years.

“Just making it there will be phenomenal.”