Three longtime northern Illinois leaders are up for an award that exemplifies excellence in community service.
Armando Cardenes, James Rhyne, and Mary Ann Abate all serve their communities in different ways. They are the nominees for this year’s Excalibur Award. This recognition has been given to community leaders for over 50 years.
Cardenas, 79, has held several titles over the years. They range from musician to insurance salesman but the one that he is being recognized for is community activist. Cardenas is from Uvalde, Texas. He moved to Rockford in 1963. He said not too long after that, his life of community service began. Cardenas said he could relate with the things Black Americans were dealing with.
“And I said, That's me. That's us. My mother took me to my first day in school,” he said. “And I'll remember that she told me, we have to go to the Mexican school. You can't go to the white school and the Black school is over there.”
He also recalled how his family couldn’t use white restrooms or eatery establishments in certain areas.
“It was on the Black movement, which is good because that helped us,” he said. "The blacks helped the Hispanics get equal rights too, but it's not read [about]. It's not mentioned.”
Cardenas would go to meetings in Chicago and decided that he wanted to insert himself into the civil rights movement. He was drafted into the army during the Vietnam War and lived in Germany for two years. He returned to Rockford and noticed those who migrated like his family needed help. So, he stopped by the St. Elizabeth Center.
“And I asked is anybody helping the Hispanic community here,” he said, “with the resources that they need when they come here, like for jobs or help or employment, or schools?”
That one question sparked the development of La Voz Latina. He became the director of this organization in 1972, which has moved on from. This organization became a resource for job assistance and social services for the Hispanic community.
James Rhyne, 62, is the executive director of the Freeport Boys & Girls Club in Stephensen County. He took a job at what was then called the Martin Luther King Community Service of Illinois in 1990. When that club closed it reopened in 2008 as the Boys & Girls Club. He said this job gave him a passion for working with young people. Rhyne said this role hasn’t been easy. He said seeing youth blossom and become successful in life are the bright moments.
“But unfortunately,” he said, “I remember more of the young people that we lost, as opposed to those that have gone on and done, you know, to be productive citizens, citizens in our society.”
Rhyne is soft spoken, but his team said his impact on youth is mighty. Yancy Shipp is the youth advocate coordinator. He said Rhyne’s approach is key.
“He gives everybody the space and the opportunity to flourish,” Shipp said. “He doesn't come and say “hey, I want you to do this. You know, and I want you to do it this way. What he does is sit down and discuss that objective? And he said, Okay, how do you get there?”
Mary Ann Abate, 75, serves as the president of the Winnebago County Community Health Board. She is a former employee of Rosecrance, which is a mental health and substance treatment center. She’s worked in the field of mental health for many years. She said when she retired her goal was to get local funding for those who suffer with mental illness and substance use. Abate and the group she led, Citizens for a Healthy Community, were key in getting the Winnebago County mental health sales tax approved in July of 2020.
“64% of the voters said yes, they wanted to pay the half cent sales tax in order to fund mental health and substance abuse,” she said. “So, it it's amazing now that we have local funding in the middle of Health Board.”
This tax has generated millions of dollars annually and funds for about 44 different programs to help with mental illness and drug addiction.
Abate said the community can also assist this population but not monetarily.
“I think that first of all, it's just the compassion and the understanding, and not to look at these people with disgust - I mean, by the grace of God, it could be any of us," she said. "Nobody asks for mental illness. And I just think that learning about mental illness and being able to treat everyone with respect goes a long way.”
Cardenas said community service is a journey.
“It's a matter of thankfulness," he said. "I think that's...but it's not thanking me, it's thanking the people that I've been associated with that have been part of my life. Up to now, that's going to continue. I'm not going to stop.”
Although each of the nominees have served the community for decades, they are all humbled by the nomination. They agree that the work they do could not be done without the help of their teams.
The award ceremony will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 14 at Prairie Street Brewhouse, 200 Prairie St. in Rockford. Other awards given that night include the Excelsior Award, which recognizes an organization or project that shows excellence in community service, and the Community Champion Award.
