The United States President Joseph R. Biden 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award, along with the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, is being presented to Ruald Strydom, Founder and Director of CEO GOLF at a ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia, in December 2022.
Ruald’s late grandparents Corrie and Christine Strydom grew up in a children’s home in South Africa which motivated him since a young age to make a difference and to create impact to women and children in need.
Ruald started volunteering at a South African Children’s Home in 2010 and through this experience he found his mission to help other orphaned and abandoned children around in the world. He founded the CEO GOLF Give-Back Initiative in 2010 where donations and time are given to local charities. These organizations represent the best in their community, those who have dedicated their lives to feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and supporting the vulnerable.
During the worst period of the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic Ruald went into the most poor and unskilled communities who was hit with poverty unparalleled by any other single event by buying and delivering food and other necessary and much needed supplies to feed residents on a daily base for 8 months. Ruald received a letter of appreciation from The Democratic Alliance (a South African political party and the official opposition to the ruling African National Congress) Councillor Elma Nel for his contribution toward this community.
Being a helicopter pilot himself, Ruald assisted charities and organizations during the Covid-19 pandemic to plan and transport food and medical supplies to remote villages and townships in rural areas.
He also got involved during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, making financial contributions to families and refugees for food and medical supplies. The invasion has caused the largest refugee crisis in Europe, with over 3.4 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.
The U.S. President’s Call to Service Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest level of the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which is bestowed by the President of the United States to honor individuals and organizations that give more than 4,000 hours helping others through the President’s Council on Service and Civic Presentation. With this prestigious award Ruald received congratulations messages that include, amongst other, Sean Spicer, the 30th White House Press Secretary.
President Joe Biden wrote a letter to accompany the award in which he thanked Ruald for his service, writing, “By sharing your time and passion, you are helping to discover and deliver solutions to the challenges we face – solutions that we need now more than ever. We are living in a moment that calls for hope and light and love. Hope for our futures, light to see our way forward and love for one another. Through your service, you are providing all three.”
“I am very grateful to President Biden for conferring this prestigious award upon me and for acknowledging my efforts in philanthropy and humanitarianism around the world. This is a huge honor. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu once said, ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world’.” said Ruald.
This award is endorsed by the White House President, Joe Biden. The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, which administers the award, was established within the Corporation for National and Community Service through a 2003 executive order by President George W. Bush
In August 2022, Ruald was also nominated for The Order of the Baobab, a South African civilian national honor by North-West University (NWU), Prof W. van Vollenhoven (Chief Director, CTL) for community service in category 1: Gold. Ruald is an active financial donor for The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in the USA, Gift of the Givers, Feed SA and UNICEF.
