Justin Rudd Focuses His Sights on Africa

If anyone in Belmont Shore deserves a vacation, it's Justin Rudd.

Besides spear-heading the campaign for what is now one of the few dog beaches in Southern California, Rudd runs the nonprofit Community Action Team, which organizes: monthly beach clean-ups; sock donations for homeless people; Easter Basket collections for children; toy drives for shelter animals; a Thanksgiving Day turkey trot, a Halloween dog costume parade, a free Mother's Day church concert; adult and child spelling bees and a bulldog kissing contest.

But Rudd says he doesn't like to vacation - unless it's "productive."

"For me, it's just do, do, do," Rudd said. "It's not that I can't be happy relaxing, it's just that I'm happier when I'm productive."

Rudd's vacation this summer includes taking photos of children in the slums of Africa and spending nights under the spell of malaria pill-induced nightmares.

The 43-year-old nonprofit founder and social media monger left for Africa Sunday with a local church group to visit orphanages and build a greenhouse in impoverished areas of Kenya and Uganda. Rudd will act as the main photographer of the trip.

His two week adventure to Africa is the newest add-on to the more than 60 events and projects Rudd organizes each year. Rudd is the leader and founder of the nonprofit CAT, but he also grooms potential Miss fill-in-the-blanks on pageant etiquette, leads fitness classes and organizes a sundry of community events in Belmont Shore. 

After he announced his trip to Africa, he said friends and family questioned it.

"They say 'Why Africa? There's so much poverty here to address.' Well, I do 95% of my projects here," Rudd said. "I want to do something extraordinary... to get away from a place of comfort like Belmont Shore."

After living in Belmont Shore for almost twenty years, Rudd said he feels at home in the neighborhood, especially at Starbucks, his informal headquarters on 2nd Street.(Considering Rudd has never actually tasted coffee, Starbucks may seem an unusual pick, but it's at the end of his street.)

During Patch's hour long interview with Rudd, more than three locals stopped by to say hello, and he waved at many passersby through the window.

One of the few people in the coffee shop that Rudd did not recognize was a young, round-faced boy selling chocolate to raise money for a Baptist Church. Rudd called the boy over and teasingly grilled the child about the charity before fishing a $10 bill out of his wallet in exchange for five chocolate bars. Chocolate, Rudd said, was one of his weaknesses.

Donating his money and time, he added, is another.

The trip will not be Rudd's first visit to Africa. During college he travelled to Zambia with an eight-person singing team to lead Christian worship services and perform religious tunes for local people. His return to Africa will scratch what he called a "20-year itch" to return to international service projects. And scratching that itch, he said, is well worth the malaria pill-induced nightmares he now endures each evening.

While Justin said he knows many people are aware of the poor conditions in places like Kenya and Uganda, he wants to frame these issues through a more personal lens. He plans to publish an album of the photos on his Facebook page and said he hopes the photos will ignite discussion among his Facebook friends about charity work in Africa.

"I want to be able to show and tell people firsthand where their charity money would go," Rudd said. "I want to capture the needs that are there, but not exploit the poverty."

Rudd drew on community support to fund his $3,500 trip, and he is still taking donations to help fellow group members fund their trips.

"I'm doing a lot but I've been given a lot and the ability to do more," Rudd said. "I was given tenacity, creativity, a loving family, a home three blocks from the beach in sunny California…. To whom much is given, much is required."