MEDINA, N.Y. — A Western New York family is honoring their late son by carrying out his vision of creating a new skate park in Medina.
Luke Nelson passed away four years ago after battling addiction. Luke Nelson loved skateboarding and hoped to one day fix up the old Medina skate park.
After he passed his family fundraised to put in a bench at the existing skate park, but they raised so much money they were able to build a whole new park.
It was all made possible because the Tony Hawk and the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation through the Built to Play initiative. Built to Play matched the $250,000 the family raised, bringing the grand total to $500,000 towards a new park.
"This was his dream," said Terri Nelson, Luke's mother. "This was his vision — was to have a new skate park here. To have the old one repaired was really his vision, never dreaming there could ever be a new skate park in Medina, so he always wanted it just improved. It was old tennis courts that had been changed into a skate park with ramps brought in, and it was quite old. So he was just hoping for repairs to be made all along, and of course he's thrilled I'm sure."
Terri Nelson also tells us that when Luke used to go to the skate park in Medina, he would be sure to teach young kids there how to do tricks.