faces by Cameron Carr Photos courtesy of Ryan Griffin and Sandra Puskarcik
In 1970, Sandra Puskarcik began her career hosting events – she was 11 at the time. That was the year Puskarcik hosted her first Carnival Against Muscular Dystrophy, a mail order kit promoted by comedian Jerry Lewis designed for kids to host their own neighborhood fundraising events.
Find Your Purpose Veterans advocate and former DIF director Sandra Puskarcik ABOVE: Puskarcik with Gov. DeWine in 2019 when her brother, Ronald, who died in the Vietnam War, was honored with a road named after him. 10 • June/July 2022
Puskarcik’s carnivals became big affairs, spreading across multiple houses and exciting the neighborhood. That would unknowingly start her toward a career as director of community engagement for the City of Dublin, where she became a key architect in growing the Dublin Irish Festival from a few hundred guests to a crowd of 100,000. “All these basic things that you do in events, no matter how big or how small,” Puskarcik says, “I started doing that in 1970.” Those first carnival events, featuring everything from games to pony rides, became important community gatherings. At the time, the carnivals meant much more to Puskarcik and her family. Her older brother, Ronald, had enlisted in the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War and was killed in action in 1968. It deeply affected her family, Puskarcik says. The carnivals created an opportunity for joy and refocusing, especially knowing the money raised would support the Muscular Dystrophy Association. “It was somewhat healing to be able to do something,” she says. “And we were doing something for good, not just for ourselves in terms of turning a corner of emotions but being able to give back to such a worthy cause.” Seeing the power of those events provided an early sense of purpose for Puskarcik, one that has guided her ever since. She turned her creativity toward writing but never escaped events, happening into jobs that combined the two interests. “That whole creative element and the passion that came from it started from a tragedy and just finding a way to deal and then heal,” she says. “What really drives me is that I knew that it worked for me and for others around me. How lucky I’ve been to be able to find jobs my whole career in www.dublinlifemagazine.com
