This week the volunteer spotlight shines on Mark Rudy.
I’ve been married almost 17 years to my wonderful wife Tina. I’m also the proud father of our 13-year-old daughter Morrison, who is a better person already than I could ever be. We live on Summit Avenue right here in Bellevue.
I grew up in the Harrisburg area, went to PSU, spending four great years in Happy Valley. In 1997, I moved to Pittsburgh with my then-fiancée and now wife Tina (a native Yinzer). We bought our house in Bellevue in 2005.
I love the market and all our wonderful volunteers. I got involved with the market last year. My wife saw a post on Facebook about the Feeding Neighbors program and since my restaurant, where I am a server, was shut down, I felt like I had to do it. I met a lot of great civic-minded people and just kept going with it.
A fun fact about me is that I hiked the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River and back to the rim in one day, which is highly NOT recommended. I was 26, not very smart, and sore as hell the next day. If I tried that again, I would probably die.
I’m excited to be back at Bayne Park instead of on hot asphalt. I’m definitely looking forward to hot Pitaland gyros for dinner. The first week of this year’s market I bought some beautiful fresh Bok choy from Pond Hill, and it was the star of an amazing pork stir fry. (Thank you, Isaac!)