Robin Borlandoe was feeling discouraged when we talked last Thursday. There’d been news of yet another shooting in her hometown of Philadelphia – this time outside a school. Nicolas Elizalde, a ninth grader who was coming in from football practice, was killed amid the attack.

It felt too familiar in a year of more than 400 homicides – even as it underscored her commitment to the work she took on this summer.

You may remember Ms. Borlandoe from June, when I wrote about her journey back to lifeguarding after a 50-year hiatus. The retired hospital office manager got recertified, spurred to help the city keep safe and joyful public spaces like pools open amid staffing shortages and rising violence.

The summer was good if challenging, she says. But then, three weeks ago, her co-worker at Mill Creek Recreational Center, Tiffany Fletcher, was also killed in crossfire just outside the pool after a day of clearing bushes with volunteers to make the area safer. “She was very much loved,” she says.

Some people ask Ms. Borlandoe if she’ll return. The answer is yes.

“It wasn’t just a fluke, this grandma lifeguard thing,” she says. “I need to show face and do something. People need to know that you can come to Miss Robin.”

She envisions some changes. “I don’t want to discipline, but teach,” she says. She’ll get certified as an instructor over the winter so she can be in the water with the kids – in the process addressing a long-standing history of children of color who never learn to swim because of poor access to pools and lessons. Maybe she can help create a swim meet next year named for Ms. Fletcher, get more gear donations for kids.

She’s committed to countering the violence, to embracing this moment and “doing the positive thing.”

“I truly believe that God has put this in my path for a reason,” she says. “It’s going to take all of us. So OK, let me take this. You never know when your time’s gonna come [to act], but I’m going to seize it.”