Community Spotlight on Silke Prelog

The Renton AmeriCorps VISTA team is putting a spotlight on people and organizations that are working to support their community. This week’s spotlight is for Silke Prelog!

Silke Prelog was born and raised in Austria before moving to Miami, Florida almost 20 years ago. She and her husband have 2 daughters and have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 2011.  Silke has been working hard to support the Renton community.  As president of the Pointe Neighborhood HOA, she organizes many community-based projects.  Some of her projects have been a stuffed animal drive for first responders, food drives, clothing drives, park and bus stop beautification projects, and many more!

During the First Responder stuffed animal donation drive earlier this year, she collected toy donations for first responders to give to children at the scene of accidents. Silke said that “It is already very tough for everyone involved facing such difficult situations which can be life-changing. The first responders play a vital role during this critical time”.  Silke is grateful to her neighbors for helping make these projects successful, saying that “…our neighbors are a big part of the success of my work, I so appreciate all their help.”

Silke says she does this work for her community because “I enjoy giving back and I am really in love with Renton, WA. I found the City of Renton very supportive and individuals working there share the same vision on making Renton a great place to live”. Silke enjoys “…bringing people from all walks of life, ethnicities, and cultures together. It is amazing to learn from new relationships and utilize the power of a community to enhance Renton”.  In her neighborhood, she says “…our neighbors are a big part of the success of my work.  I so appreciate all their help.”

To those who want to give back to their communities, Silke offers this advice: “I would say, start small, be persistent, and organize yourself.”

“I would hope our community members would be there for each other in these difficult times. The humanity we show each other right now will get us through this period of time, and we will make it through!”