Mar. 2—Bishop Nicky Starling said he was "humbled and surprised" when he found out he had received a President's Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer work from President Joe Biden.

"I wasn't expecting it," said Starling, pastor of Dalton's Harvest Outreach Ministries. "I couldn't believe it. I was really honored."

Starling served as a police officer with the Dalton Police Department for more than four years before being injured in an accidental shooting. From there, he entered the ministry, following in the footsteps of his grandfather Bishop C.H. Ellison.

According to biographical information Starling has provided in the past, he has served on the United Way of Northwest Georgia area planning committee, as a volunteer chaplain for Hamilton Medical Center, on the board of the Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care Center and was appointed by then-Gov. Joe Frank Harris to the Martin Luther King Jr. State Holiday Commission, among other volunteer work.

Starling was nominated for the presidential award by Lent Carr, president of the National Congressional Voting Caucus for Human Rights International.

"Bishop Starling has gone over and above in all of his efforts," said Carr. "We were proud to have nominated him, and we are very happy he has received this honor."