FIYB Invites the Ithaca Community to Celebrate USA 2026 Olympic Gold Medalist and Cornell Women’s Hockey Alumna Rory Guilday ‘25 on Saturday October 17

Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau is pleased to host USA 2026 Olympic Gold Medalist Rory Guilday on Saturday, October 17 at 11:00 am at the Ithaca High School Wellness Center Gym, 1401 N. Cayuga Street, Ithaca. The “meet and greet” event is free and open to the public.

Minnesotan Guilday is a 2025 graduate of Cornell University who was captain of the Women’s Ice Hockey team that won the ECACs and advanced to the NCAA tournament during her collegiate years. She was honored by the ECAC and USCHO for her strong performances and selected to compete for Team USA at international events during her undergraduate years. Since graduation, she has played defense with the USA Olympic Team and with the Ottawa Charge of the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League). This fall she will be one of the inaugural players for the expansion PWHL team in San Jose, CA.

Guilday will speak about her experiences playing at the highest level of women’s ice hockey, and about her four years in Ithaca. Remarks welcoming her will begin at 11:15 am. There will be an opportunity for photographs with Guilday and her gold medal, and for autographs.

She will also be attending both Cornell Women’s Hockey games at Lynah Rink (Friday at 6:00 pm and Saturday at 3:00 pm vs University of Vermont). An autograph session will occur there after Saturday’s game.

Light refreshments will be provided by the FIYB. IYB (Ithaca Youth Bureau) program staff will visit with attendees, and the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) Athletics and Wellness department is assisting FIYB. For more information, contact friendsiyb@gmail.com

A longtime friend of youth and the youth bureau anonymously contributed $50,000 last year to inspire others to support IYB programs through the Friends of the IYB nonprofit organization. The gift was allocated to key needs and initiatives, and funds this event in memory of Vernon “Chip” Copeland of Newburgh, NY.

How Friends Support Community’s Youth and Families!

As the board members of the Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau (FIYB), we steward your gifts, channeling your generous private support to the Ithaca Youth Bureau (IYB). It is our responsibility to you as our donors and to the community to assist the IYB mission through allocations of designated gifts to specific programs, and gifts for the “areas of greatest need”.

The FIYB board is pleased to announce that it allocated more than $100,000 over the past year to the IYB.  FIYB has had a positive impact on the community for 15 years providing a means for private individuals, families and organizations to make charitable gifts to support the IYB programs, facilities and initiatives.

Another visible example was when the IYB celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023. We made a $75,000 grant to the IYB on behalf of all FIYB supporters.  In addition to funding improved furnishings at the IYB building and program equipment, resources were directed toward vans for transporting program participants. FIYB board members posed this fall with a newly leased van and met with IYB Director Gregg Houck.

Gregg updated us on what FIYB allocations this year so far have made possible: 

Collaborative memberships with local health and fitness partners for programming with Recreation Support Services (RSS) participants.

• New utility sink and storage cabinets for the Stewart Park Day Camp as part of the Large Pavilion Addition project (with Friends of Stewart Park).

• Snaplock dance flooring, piping, and draping to create a portable stage area for Expressive Arts performances, presentations, and other program uses.

• $10,000 in youth scholarships for participation in local recreation programming.

• Repairs to the accessible dock to support adaptive boating for the Stewart Park Day Camp.

• New tents and camping equipment for the Outings program.

• Supplies for the Afterschool Nutrition Program.

• New roller skates for Cass Park Rink.

• Support for critical staff training and development.

• Rental vehicles for program transportation as the department phased out old vehicles and began leasing.

Thank you very much for your contributions that are having a tremendous amount of impact!

With gratitude,

Jeff Love, Mary Grainger, Allen Green, Eric Nichols, Peter Tsung

Your Support Impacts Ithaca Youth

On May 23, 2024, we hosted a community event to introduce new IYB Director Gregg Houck! He’s pictured with the most recent IYB directors Liz Vance Klohmann and Allen Green.

There was great energy on the evening of May 23 as the Friends of the Ithaca Youth Bureau hosted community members and IYB staff who gathered to welcome new IYB director Gregg Houck!

We are sending you these images and videos so that you learn about Gregg’s goals for the IYB as it offers participants from all backgrounds, walks of life, identities, abilities and lived experiences a broad range of recreation and youth development services, supports, and opportunities to enable them to thrive.

Jeff Love welcomes guests and Gregg: WATCH HERE

Gregg Houck introduces self and his goals: WATCH HERE

Gregg expressed to the Friends: “I want to thank all of you for organizing my welcoming event! It was so nice to have such a great cross section of our community represented and I had many wonderful conversations throughout the evening.”

In addition, FIYB is appreciative of CRN Events and Ba Li Catering for refreshments and event support.

FIYB’s mission connects the community with the IYB by receiving charitable donations that are allocated to the IYB for general needs or specific designations, and by raising visibility of the agency’s people, programs and facilities. 

Your generous support is important to our work and we seek volunteers to help with this mission! Let us know.

Jeff Love, Mary Grainger, Allen Green, Eric Nichols

Businesses and Organizations Encouraged to Join Us!