Alabama
native works to improve Long Beach
By Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
 Justin
Rudd moved to Long Beach from Alabama in
1997 and immediately became an active member
of the Long Beach community. As part of
Rudd’s efforts, he created a nonprofit organization,
which does everything from volunteer work
to fundraisers for local charities.
Community Action Team is an organization
made up of programs and events like the
30-minute Beach Cleanup, the $1,000 Southern
California Spelling Bee Championship, Sprint
Dating and other projects.
“CAT is an organization that does social
welfare projects in the city of Long Beach,”
Rudd said. “It’s made up of small programs
that can make a difference in our community.
I came up with these programs because I
felt they were needed. Nobody was doing
it so I said to myself, ‘I’ll try them.’”
Rudd works part time for a local public
relations agency and spends all his free
time working on his projects.
“I don’t watch TV,” Rudd said. “It’s a full
time job. But I enjoy doing it. Instead
of coming home from work and sitting on
the couch and watching TV, I get on my computer
and start contacting people to volunteer
and send out newsletters.”
Rudd came up with the 30-minute Beach Cleanup
in June 1999 while jogging on the beach.
“I jog on the beach all the time and when
I first moved here six years ago I saw all
the trash and decided to do the beach cleanup,”
Rudd said.
The 30-minute Beach Cleanup takes place
on the third Saturday of each month at 10
a.m. on the beach at the end of Granada
Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, in Belmont
Shore. The Long Beach Department of Park,
Recreation and Marine provides the gloves
and bags. The next scheduled 30-minute Beach
Cleanup is Feb. 15.
Rudd also founded the $1,000 Southern California
Spelling Bee Championship. This contest
was designed to help students improve their
spelling and develop their vocabulary.
“Anytime we can encourage a child to learn
and its educational, it’s fantastic,” Rudd
said.
The contest takes place every year the weekend
after St. Patrick’s Day at Bay Shore Community
Congregational Church here in Long Beach.
The winner receives a cash prize of $1,000.
Participants must be in fifth grade or lower.
Each public, private and parochial elementary
school in Southern California is allowed
to send one representative from their school.
Last year’s winner was 10-year-old, Kelly
Conley from Birney Elementary in Long Beach.
Conley withstood 90 minutes of competition
and spelled the words legible and conscience
to become $1,000 richer. Some examples of
words they have to spell are pollution,
quartet, gnarled, advertisement and memorable.
As if that were not enough, Rudd also created
Sprint Dating. This fundraising event was
designed for gays and lesbians to meet outside
the traditional bar and club scene. Participants
pay $20 before the day of the event or $25
at the door.
The money raised at this event goes to the
$1,000 California Spelling Bee Championship
and to local charities like Helping Hands
and AIDS Walk of Long Beach.
“The money we make from this event goes
to our spelling bee and beach cleanup,”
Rudd said. “Last year I had to get 40 of
my friends to donate $25 each and that’s
how I came up with $1,000 for the prize.”
Doing service projects comes natural for
this well spoken, polite Alabama native.
“I grew up doing service projects in junior
high school, high school and college,” Rudd
said. “I carried that over into my adult
life.”
Rudd is also a certified aerobics and fitness
instructor and teaches an hour-long fitness
class a few times a week all year round.
He calls this his Sand Challenge. But this
challenge is not for the beginning athletes.
“It’s for the intermediate to advanced athlete,”
Rudd said. “It’s outdoors, it’s an alternative
to the gym. It’s so beautiful outside and
we have such a wonderful beach why be stuck
in one place in a gym.”
In addition to running two miles during
the class, participants do different exercises
such as sit-ups, sprints and relays. The
first class is free and each class after
that is $10. Students only pay $5 for each
class. The workouts take place at Granada
Avenue and Ocean Boulevard in Belmont Shore
on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
“I want these programs to succeed and they
do succeed thanks to the volunteers,” Rudd
said. “It’s pretty important to me and I
think they’re important to our community
and hopefully we can continue to do more
programs.”
|
