Just Think of Bob

"Bob made it his personal passion."

These words reverberated in my head all night after I saw this short CBS Atlanta news video.

As you may or may not know, Dunwoody citizen Bob Lundsten conducted a fundraiser for the past two months to raise enough money to provide every single Dunwoody Police vehicle with AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators). He delivered those lunchbox-sized lifesaving units yesterday, after raising close to $50,000. (He still needs about $15,000 more--click here if you'd like to donate).

AEDs automate the diagnosis of treatable heart rhythms, enabling plain ole' folks with little to no special training to use them successfully if someone near them goes into sudden cardiac arrest (as Bob's wife did at one of their three daughters' volleyball games at Sprayberry High School ten years ago--her heart stopped for more than 40 minutes, and she was in a coma for two weeks). AEDs can be found in corporate and government offices, shopping centers, airports, restaurants, sports stadiums, schools, community centers, and fitness centers. More first responders such as police officers are carrying them in their vehicles. They were not included in the budget for the City of Dunwoody Police Department. Our police have them now, however, thanks to Bob and the many people who donated.

I saw the complex expression on Bob's face Sunday afternoon at the Dunwoody Community Garden when I asked him how he felt about the AEDs finally being provided (by the way, Bob was not only instrumental in getting that garden off the ground, but he is a constant presence there, mowing, building, caring). I could tell that that life-changing volleyball game felt like yesterday in his mind, but yet the journey to this moment had been long and certainly hard. I told Bob that, on a much, much smaller scale, it was sort of how I felt two weeks ago when Vanderlyn put in its organic vegetable garden. I had been advocating for that for eight years, and to see a group of current Vanderlyn parents bring it to reality was deeply satisfying.

Bob likes to cut to the chase and get things done, the right way, the first time, without excuses about budgets and protocol and all the other reasons good ideas get killed. FYI, Bob is also the person on the Comprehensive Plan citizen steering committee who advocated most vehemently for additional targeted meetings so that citizens living in the immediate areas most affected by predicted change have more opportunities to voice their opinions. City Council approved these meetings last night. Stay tuned for dates and times and please attend. Your input is sincerely desired by every City Council member, and everyone involved is trying their hardest to end up with a plan for a shared future in which City of Dunwoody citizens feel involved and excited.

My personal passion has been to engage more people in the conversation about sustainability, and to help prepare our city for a changing world. I am lucky to have met Bob, and to have found the places where our Venn Diagrams of passion overlap. Bob has me thinking that anything really is possible here in the newest city in the United States of America.

What is your personal passion? And what one step forward will you take today to make it a reality?

Just think of Bob.