September 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 20

People for Parks
Little Guy, Big Dreams
A 4-year-old who lost his father in the West, Texas, explosion raises
more than $100,000 to rebuild the destroyed city park in his honor
By Danielle Taylor

he massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Company this April both literally and figuratively rocked the small community of West, Texas, which lost
15 people from the town and surrounding area in the disaster. In addition
to the damage to dozens of homes and schools, one of the hardest-hit spots was
the community park, located directly across the street from the fertilizer company.
City secretary and volunteer firefighter Joey Pustejovsky was one of
the first responders who arrived onscene to fight the initial fire. When
the blast went off, he and 10 other
emergency personnel lost their lives,
leaving behind hundreds of friends
and family members, including Pustejovsky's 4-year-old son, Parker.
Prior to his death, Joey and Parker
spent a lot of time playing together at
the park, which is located one block
from Joey's parents' home. As city
secretary, Joey had attempted to secure grant money to update the park,
but funds from the state had dried
up, leaving the project on hold at the
time of the tragedy.

A few weeks after the explosion,
Parker asked his grandparents, Joe and
Carolyn Pustejovsky, to take him to see
what was left of their home. Afterward,
as they were driving back through town,
Parker piped up from the backseat.
" He said, 'Gigi (his name for Carolyn), I have a project I want to do.
I'm going to raise money to rebuild
the park,' " Joe says. " We just looked
at each other. My wife asked him,
'How are you going to raise money?'
He said 'I'm going to sell hot dogs.' "
Joe and Carolyn mentioned Parker's
idea to several friends and neighbors,
and the project quickly took off with
lots of attention coming through the
group's website and Facebook page.

The center of the explosion was located less than 200 feet from West's city park.
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Donations began pouring in for the
July 20 event, including hot dogs from
a local sausage company, chips from
Frito-Lay and sodas from Dr Pepper.
In addition to the $5 hot dog platters, the event featured a silent auction,
CDs and T-shirts for sale, inflatable
slides, a tribute to the fallen firefighters
and more. People came out in droves,
bringing not only money for the fundraiser but donated hot dogs and buns
as well. Shermco Industries donated $21,000 at the event, and $45,000
came from the Texas Farm Bureau.
By day's end, about 2,500 hot dogs
had been sold, and the total raised came
out to $83,000, an amount that stunned
the event's organizers. Joey Pustejovsky
was born on August 3, 1983, at 8:03
a.m., weighing 8 lbs., 3 oz., and the total amount raised confirmed to the organizers his presence that day.
Since the fundraiser, the project has
received about $20,000 more in donations, and more events are planned
to continue raising support for the
park. A number of contractors have
also volunteered their services when
the city is ready to begin building.
" It's time, " Mayor Tommy Muska says. " We're still looking at fixing
streets and sewers and water, but I
think for the city to start the rebuilding
process and the healing process, we've
got to move forward with this as well. "
For more information, visit www.
parkersparkproject.com or www.face
book.com/ParkersParkProject.
Danielle Taylor is the Associate Editor for
Parks & Recreation (dtaylor@nrpa.org).

September 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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