Jerry Case, a native of Maryland in the US who now lives in Ireland, has been awarded by the US State Department for his inspiring work at The Good Bike Project.

Case, a retired US National Parks Service ranger, is one of this year's eight winners of the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW) Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad (SOSA).

The award, the AAFSW says, recognizes the most exceptional volunteer efforts by Foreign Service employees and family members abroad.

The US State Department said: “Biking enthusiast Jerry Case worked with the owners of River Cycles bike shop in Dublin to launch the Good Bike Project, which has refurbished more than 2,000 used bicycles and distributed them to displaced Ukrainian refugees in need.

"With their new bikes, the refugees can more easily go to school, work, and have a larger measure of independence.

"The project now reaches almost every county in Ireland through a partnership with Dynamic Parcel Distribution, which picks up the refurbished bikes and transports them across Ireland."

Case told The Irish Times back in July that he had been volunteering at the Good Bike Project since coming across a local newspaper article last year.

Working three days a week for the previous 18 months, Case had dedicated over 1,000 hours of his time to aiding the charity, the Irish Times reported over the summer.

102,121 Personal Public Service Numbers (PPSNs) had been given to arrivals from Ukraine as of December 14, according to Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Case said the award was a "total surprise" during a ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin Room of the Harry S. Truman Building in Washington, DC on November 29.

“I remember opening up the email at the end of the summer and it was titled ‘Congratulations you won’ and right then my finger was going to the delete button,” Case said at the ceremony.

“Fortunately I didn't and I reread it three or four times and I was like ‘What is this? What's going on?’"

Case said he was told he had four minutes to speak during the award ceremony. While he had prepared remarks ahead of time, he "trashed" them after plenty of time to "rethink" them - and watch movies - during his lengthy flight the night before the ceremony.

Among the movies Case watched was "The Bucket List," starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

“It's a very good movie, but there are some words of inspiration in there for all of us," Case remarked.

"When Morgan Freeman turned to Jack Nicholson and said, ‘the ancient Egyptians believed that to get into heaven, you needed to answer two questions, and your answer determined whether you got into heaven or not.

“The first question was ‘Have you found joy in your life?’

“And at that point, Jack turns around and rolls his eyes and the second one was, ‘Has your life brought joy to others?'

“Well for me this volunteer opportunity answer both of those questions.

“Thank you.”

You can watch Jerry Case's remarks at the 2023 SOSA and Awards Ceremony here:

Related: Dublin, Inspiring