The passion of a local young man who lost his life years ago is still going strong through dinners to raise money for a Zelienople skate park. Jeff Barkley told our newsroom, “We are building a skate park one fish dinner at a time, that’s our slogan. We started the event after the loss of three boys here in the Zelie community in a vehicle accident back in January of 2010. One of the boys, my son Trevor Barkley, was one of the boys and his passion was to see a skate park built in the Zelienople area.”
Barkley is one of the people keeping the memory of his son Trevor, along with Sam Bucci and Elijah Lunsford, alive through the 7th annual weekly Fish Fry Benefit Dinners. The dinners are held at the Zelienople American Legion Hall every Friday during Lent from 4 to 8 p.m. Suggested dinner donations are $12 for adults and $6 for kids 10 and younger. This event will also have a Chinese auction and raffle items.
The new proposed skate park design carries a price tag of over $600,000 but the group continues to push forward with their goal now in sight.
“Our goal is to be able to break ground next year and see this project come about. It’s kind of been a long, slow process but along the way, I think that the community has really embraced it and we’re excited to see it come about and I think that the community is as well,” Barkley explained.
To learn more about this effort or find other ways to donate or participate, the website for this project is myzeliepark.org.
Written by Ryan Saeler
