Staff
Madeleine Buhlau
Founder & Executive Director
A resident of Oakville for the past 33 years, this passionate and dynamic woman has shared her dedication, skills and compassion for children and youth with several organizations in town. Madeleine has worked with Community Living Oakville as a resource teacher, taught adult education at Sheridan College, 4 years facilitating parent education classes and curriculum development at the Oakville Parent-Child Centre and has implemented several successful fundraising initiatives for multiple organizations.
Madeleine enjoys and finds great fulfillment in guiding, teaching, mentoring and advocating for youth. She understands fully the importance of developing strong partnerships with community organizations and stakeholders to maximize their resources and talents, and that it does in fact take a community to raise a child.
Madeleine also ran Squids N’ Squirts, a playground and recreational facility, stretching her entrepreneur muscles in the process and has since taken on the Executive Directors position with Bereaved Families of Ontario – Halton/Peel placing an emphasis on supporting children and youth and expanding community networks.
Madeleine is a bold and unhindered management professional with a proficiency and demonstrated success in the development and implementation of new initiatives. She believes a strong youth service movement will create a healthy community and foster citizenship, knowledge, awareness and the personal development of Oakville`s young people.
Adult allies, youth serving organizations, schools, community service organizations, corporations and faith based and governmental institutions play a critical role in supporting and empowering young people to engage in all aspects of civic life. It demands openness to new opportunities and fresh attitudes.
The Network is dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for youth age 13 to 25 to serve locally.
Michelle Siler
Youth Engagement Assistant
Michelle Siler graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an honours degree in English and French. After taking a year off to travel and work she is preparing for teacher’s college at Ottawa University. Michelle has always had a passion for working with kids, especially at the primary level. She loves to see how excited the students get about school when a fun learning environment is created for them.
Michelle lived in Oakville for 17 years with her family before moving to Grimsby 3 years ago to fulfill her family’s dream of living on a farm. Even though her current address is not in Oakville, Michelle still holds a deep connection with the community there. Her friends, family and home church are rooted in Oakville and she has always wanted to give back to the community that has given her so much.
This is why when the opportunity came about to work with CYAN Michelle was thrilled to become involved with an organization that makes a difference for the youth of Oakville. Michelle really believes in the potential of CYAN and hopes to see it grow and become a household name amongst Oakville’s youth. Being a part of CYAN has introduced Michelle to a number of other not-for-profit organizations and amazing volunteers who all strive to better our community and she is so thankful for the connections she has made.
