Pastor Brad Alford received the award from Nelson Mandela Global Peace Award recipient Dr. Jason Renville
PASO ROBLES—On Friday, Jan. 7, Paso Robles, A New Day Church’s Pastor Brad Alford went down in American history after becoming a Presidential Lifetime Award recipient.
In 2002, President George W. Bush created the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) to honor the hundreds of thousands of people across America that have volunteered hundreds, if not thousands of volunteer hours over their lifetime. The program was established to honor the volunteer works of individuals, families, and organizations throughout the United States. Specifically, The Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award (PLAA, also known as the President’s Call to Service Award) is the highest level of the PVSA, requiring a minimum of 4,000 hours of documented volunteer service.
When asked how he felt to be receiving such a prestigious award, he said he felt “Very humble. I don’t deserve an award. I don’t see myself as ‘Oh I’ve done this, I’ve done that, I’ve done this.’ We try to live a selfless life to serve Jesus because He is our reward, and so when Dr. Jason motioned to me that this may be a possibility, I was stunned—I look at it as something that is bigger than me.”
Dr. Jason Renville, a Human Rights Ambassador for the United Nations (UN), came to Paso Robles to present the award to Pastor Alford. Renville himself is a recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, the Nelson Mandela Global Peace Award, iChange Nations’ World Civility Award, iChange Nations’ National Statesman Degree, iChange Nations’ Peace Icon Award/Diplomat of The Year. Additionally, Renville is a Global Ambassador-At-Large and Ecclesiastical Officer under the UNs’ Economic and Social Council – Non-Governmental Organization—on top of that, he ministers around the world.
Renville has conferred the award to Pastors, Bishops, and others alike across the Nation. Recipients of the award must be first be nominated and then meet several requirements, including record and proof of all volunteer hours. After that, Renville explains what he looks for in a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
“I make sure I look at the heart of the person, I make sure I look at the spirit of leadership, I look at the selflessness, the spirit of our service. How they serve selflessly and what’s there that is measurable—real-time proof of why they are being honored with such a noble award.”
He continues to say of Pastor Alford, “I don’t think—one award can quantify the depth of who he is and what he has done for the community, the body, America at large to look at someone as an example and say, This is really it and a prototype, and we can go from here. I just feel we need to take all of those into consideration, and tonight we are here to honor.”
Before bestowing the award to Pastor Alford and his wife Eileen, Renville read the document and explained while the current United States President signs the award, it exists before and after that person is in office and regardless of who they are or what party they stand for. In other words, the award is a story of the country.
The award document reads, “The American story depends not on any one of us, not on some of us, but on all of us—Throughout our country’s history, the American story has been strengthened by those who combine an optimism about what can be with the resilience to turn that vision into reality.”
