Doing a Lot With Little : Homeless Couple’s Effort to Beautify Park Inspires Others

Bonnie and Mark Dervinsky wake up in the bathroom of a San Fernando Valley fast-food restaurant, wash up, then push the grocery cart laden with their possessions to a neighborhood park.

There they begin cleaning, pruning and weeding--chores they have performed every day this year at shady Brand Park in Mission Hills, located across from the San Fernando Mission. The homeless couple’s commitment has drawn the attention of others who now join in the daily cleanup.

These days, the Dervinskys--unemployed but refusing public assistance--don’t feel quite so alone.

“It’s so beautiful, the plans they have for the park,” said Martha Cordero, 20, of San Fernando, who worked with the Dervinskys in the park Saturday. “Their plan is to keep working until it is truly restored.”

Their motivation is simple. Tired of watching trash blow across the baseball field, weary of staring at graffiti on the sundial stand and saddened by the sagging and broken limbs on the park’s fig, olive and orange trees, they decided to get involved.

“The place just didn’t feel good,” said Mark Dervinsky, 41, a former insurance benefits consultant. “We come here every day, and finally, we said to each other, ‘We’d like to see this place shine.’ ”

After losing their jobs in the late 1980s, the Dervinskys said they lost their savings to an unscrupulous self-help therapist who promised to get them back on their feet. Since then, they say, they have stayed away from shelters and public housing, preferring to survive on their own. They cut a deal with a local fast-food restaurant owner: They clean up, he lets them sleep in the bathroom.

“We’re down to the shopping cart because the camper we lived in was impounded,” said Bonnie Dervinsky, 46, a former housekeeper. “We broke down on a street in Chatsworth and the neighbors complained, but we didn’t have the money to get it fixed. So while we’re in this situation, we decided we’d work on the park. Who, more than us, wants to see this place cleaned up? The city doesn’t have the manpower or the money.”

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Armed with a rake, a hoe and a battered broom, the Dervinskys have unclogged gutters, cleared weeds and repaired and cleaned benches and walkways. In the process, the couple have developed their own vision for revitalizing the 19-acre park.

Residents say they are moved by the couple’s devotion.

“We saw them working there and we thought they were city employees,” said Cordero, who met the Dervinskys in the park last month. Cordero and her brother Baltazar, 12, surprised the Dervinskys by recruiting a dozen or so relatives and friends to help clean up over the weekend.

The group worked for three hours, removing trash and debris.

“These people don’t have anything, they don’t get anything, but they’re giving. It’s such a good example,” Cordero said.

City parks officials said they appreciate the Dervinskys’ work and have asked them to sign up as volunteers.

“Things don’t get done as often as they should,” said Patrick Kennedy, a senior parks maintenance supervisor, alluding to budget reductions for park maintenance.

On a recent afternoon, the Dervinskys paused for a lunch of roast beef sandwiches and sodas (purchased with money earned by collecting recyclables) and described their plans for the park.

“We’d begin in here,” Mark Dervinsky said, pointing to the railing inside the concrete archway that gives way to Memorial Gardens. “The railing is missing some bars.”

Added Bonnie: “We’re thinking Spanish tile, or something antiquey, for the floor, instead of asphalt. Maybe the kids wouldn’t write on it as much. Some potted plants, flowers and ferns would look good in here too. Many couples take wedding party photos here on Saturdays.”

Reflecting beneath a large olive tree, Bonnie compared her work in the park to the lesson she learned as a child when she entered a doll-making contest.

“The prize went to the girl who made the best doll,” she said. “I won. And I gave my doll to a younger girl. The grand prize, that’s on the inside.”