On Feb. 3, 2024, Mark Cioffi, P ’24, and 15 of his Alpha Rho (Rutgers) Brothers braced themselves. They stood on a sandy beach, facing the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and prepared to plunge. Seconds later, the men took off running with the rest of the crowd at the 3rd Annual Patriot Polar Plunge and splashed into the chilly waves.
“That act of jumping into the water is tough, but for a good cause,” says Cioffi. “The cold warms the heart and you come home fresh and rejuvenated.”
The good cause has a tragic backstory: in 2021, 41-year-old New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Sergeant Juan Fajardo was killed in an off-duty motorcycle collision with a van on Route 206. Sgt. Fajardo had been a member of the NJSP for 16 years and in the New Jersey Army National Guard. He left behind a wife and three young children.
The Sea Girt Patriot Polar Plunge was created in his memory and now benefits the LIFT Fund for Veterans at Coastal Habitat for Humanity. Cioffi, who is a volunteer EMT and a probationary member of the Barnegat, New Jersey Fire Department, felt personally touched by the event and its beneficiary.
“We have so much as Chi Psi men,” he says. “And to see the often horrible state of veteran housing up close, which can sometimes lead them to spiral into a life of poverty after serving our country, is devastating for me.”
