The Penn Stater Magazine

Matt Marek at a First Aid Post in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross.

We’re working on wrapping up our March/April issue, included in which is a profile of Matt Marek ’98, the Red Cross’ man on the ground in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Marek has worked in Haiti for years, was there when the earthquake struck, and will likely be there for the next few years (at least) leading the Red Cross’ recovery and rebuilding efforts. I’ve had a chance to talk to some of his family and friends, and can tell you that Marek seems every bit the impressive guy you’d expect.

I’m also following the efforts of Margaret Trost ’84, whose work feeding some of Haiti’s poorest kids is more important than ever, and of the team of doctors and nurses from the Hershey Medical Center who have been treating quake victims over the past few weeks. But a name I didn’t expect to hear was that of Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley ’78. Last weekend—in the midst of the final recruiting week of the spring, when he certainly had his hands full at work—Bradley joined his friend Cliff Benson ’71 on a plane that left Pittsburgh loaded with 30,000 pounds of medical supplies. As Bradley told the Allentown Morning-Call, he went along to help load and unload the supplies, and the roundtrip took less than a day. “Eighteen hours,” Bradley said. “I think everybody can find that kind of time.”

Ryan Jones, senior editor