Community Relations

Xilinx Employees in the Community

Spotlight on Kate Melicke

Kate Melicke, a Xilinx FAE in Raleigh, has been working with Communities in Schools for the past 8 years as a tutor/mentor at the Garner Senior High School. Pictured is Kate and her long time student Lisa, on Lisa's wedding day.

Kate Melicke not only tutored Lisa with her schoolwork and special projects, she took on the emotional well being of Lisa and that of her family. Through the five years that Kate worked with Lisa, she helped the family when they needed food and provided emotional support to Lisa and her family during some tough times. Kate took on the role of a big sister to Lisa and her younger sibling, Shannon. When Lisa graduated high school, Kate hosted the graduation party. When Lisa decided to marry, Kate held the wedding reception.

Lisa would not have graduated high school without CIS (Communities in Schools). CIS works with students who are often headed for school failure because of a variety of personal and educational challenges. Each student at risk is assigned to a CIS class once per week, where they meet with their personal tutor/mentor.

The highlight for Kate was Lisa's speech at a CIS end of the year celebration. Lisa told of the trials she has faced, and recognized that without the support of CIS and Kate Melicke, she would have continued along her destructive path of drug abuse, and would have dropped out of school.

Today, Lisa is a responsible, well adjusted adult. She is thinking about going back to college for an art degree and working part time.

Kate continues to work with Lisa's sister, Shannon. Shannon has one more year to go in school and will be a CIS consultant student. Kate will continue her volunteer work next year with a new student and a new family.

Learn more about CIS at www.cisnet.org

Spotlight on Mark Bowlby

For the last six years Mark Bowlby, a marketing manager at Xilinx, has been spending long holiday weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day to travel from San Jose, California, to Mexico.

These are not vacations, they're working trips, during which Mark changes his role from electronic engineer to carpenter. Mark and his wife, Lorie, along with several other members of The River Church Community in Sunnyvale

, spend the better part of a week building new homes for families that inhabit the shanty towns on the eastern side of Tijuana. For most of the families residing in the cardboard and tin shacks, there is no water or electricity. Many of the people who live in these impoverished colonies are migrants from southern Mexico who have come north to find work.

Mark's group raises money in the U.S. to cover expenses and pay for building materials. They've formed a partnership with a local Tijuana church to help coordinate the on-going projects. As many as 40 people have joined Mark's construction crew on a single trip. In a few days, they frame, roof and wire the modest -- but clean and new -- homes.

A Happy Construction Crew

"The finished building is the most visible part of our work,” Mark says. "But just as satisfying is the other outreach work we do, like organizing carnivals, crafts and contests for the children, helping to renovate the local church, cleaning classrooms and doing ministry work. It's a fulfilling way to spend a three day weekend, which I extend with just a couple of vacation days.”