Just a fire truck?

Yesterday I was driving south on 405 heading toward a client meeting in Tukwila. As I maneuvered through the S-curves (a term I learned as a teen listening to traffic reports), I came upon a shiny red fire truck also headed south. When I got close I saw "Redmond" in gold letters.

My first thought was, "what is a Redmond fire truck doing down here in Renton?" However, as I looked at the truck, I found myself filled with a great sense of pride. Here, right next to me was one of our fire trucks; one of my fire trucks! It was beautifully clean, polished, shiny and a large flag was securely attached to the rear, waving in the wind. I felt both protected as I drove alongside, as well as proud that our city would be represented somewhere south for some unknown reason.

I realized that over the last few months, as I've been talking with people of our city, I have gained a tremendous sense of pride for Redmond. We are an amazing city with bright, engaged citizens who want to make our city, state and world a better place. We are also a city with many who are less fortunate, who need a hand up so that they can feel engaged and a part of something bigger than the immediate need to feed themselves, or provide safe shelter for their family.

This is the heart of the work of The Redmond Foundation. How can we help build a sense of pride in our city so that each resident and worker is excited to be part of what is going on; so that each resident and worker recognizes the need to support those who are less fortunate and step up to make a difference wherever they are able. I want all citizens of Redmond to feel proud to be represented by our shiny red fire trucks headed "somewhere south" to be part of the even greater community of the Eastside and the entire King County region.

We have a lot of work to do over the next few years, but I do believe that important work has begun and I can't wait to see the impact it makes on the future of Redmond!