It seems that Carl Fuschetto may get a lasting tribute after all, but this one will be quite a distance from the spot where he died.
Friends and family members are raising money to get a memorial bench and a “tree of life” installed in his name in Marine Park, possibly near the handball courts where he loved to go.
“He grew up on Avenue T, just a block away from Marine Park, and he went to Marine Park Junior High School,” his mother, Pamela Fuschetto, told this paper. “He played handball there every day.”
Over 150 people are expected to attend a fund-raiser at Buckley’s Restaurant on Sept. 17. Money collected there will be split between the memorial bench fund and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
The rest needed for the $2,500 bench and the $900 tree will come out of Fuschetto’s pocket, she said.
“We really want to get the bench,” she explained. “We want to go to Marine Park instead of going to the accident site.”
Fuschetto’s family and the residents living near East 38th Street and Quentin Road, where Carl died, have been at odds since the fatal June 25 motorcycle accident, especially when the tow truck driver’s friends had a different take on what a lasting memorial should be.
Days after Carl’s death, a modest tribute exploded outward with graffiti-strewn missives found on the sign, sidewalk and crosswalks.
“We want someplace nice to go and remember Carl,” she said.
“Not a place filled with nothing but sadness and evilness.”
Carl Fuschetto memorial bench fundraiser at Buckley’s Bar and Restaurant [2926 Avenue S at Nostrand Avenue, (718) 998-4222] on Sept. 17 beginning at 7 pm. For more information, call the restaurant.
