Back to Fall 2008 / Winter 2009
Arin Resnicke knows firsthand the serious impact air pollution has on health.The avid bicyclist has asthma and lives in Bakersfield, one of the most polluted areas in the country. That’s why he has included the American Lung Association of California in his will.
“I want to support all the work the American Lung Association is doing to assist those with lung disease,which often results from polluted air,” Resnicke says.“When the air quality is bad, it affects my and others’ ability to breathe.”
He first got involved with the association in 1991 when he joined the American Lung Association of California’s Lung Ride bicycling event.“The people I met during that ride were so wonderful. I just fell in love with everyone at the association’s Bakersfield office.”
Resnicke decided to get more involved with the organization because its issues hit so close to home.His brother also has asthma and his mother was a longtime smoker who eventually died from COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), even though she had quit smoking 10 years earlier.
He joined the association’s Leadership Council in Bakersfield six years ago and tries to help out when he can.He has continued to participate in the ride every year – except during the years he was recuperating from a serious bicycle accident in 1999.Despite the recurring pain and disability caused by that accident, he continues to ride and has a long resume that includes his bicycling events and officiating duties.
Resnicke says everything has come full circle for him.He started riding his bicycle because doctors told his parents he needed to get regular exercise after he was diagnosed with asthma.Now he is doing what he can to fight air pollution so he can ride his bicycle without gasping for breath.
“I hear people say ‘someone should do something about that,’” Resnicke says.“But it gets to the point where you have to ask yourself what actions you can take to improve things. Supporting the American Lung Association, and getting out of my car and onto my bike, is how I’m taking action against air pollution.”
