'Soldier' has served Salvation Army since he was 10 years old

By Dyana Bagby
dyana.bagby@gwinnettdailypost.com

Gwinnett Daily Post/Nicole Finley
Eighty-year-old Andy Miller smiles and greets shoppers at the Mall of Georgia Target . Miller has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army since he was 10 years old. 

BUFORD - Bundled up in a heavy wool coat, scarf and his Salvation Army cap, Andy Miller braves the winter cold to do what's he's been doing every December for the past 70 years - ring a bell.

"You meet good people," he said with a smile Thursday outside the Target at the Mall of Georgia, greeting shoppers as they walked into the store.

"Thank you, thank you. God bless," he said to a mother and daughter as the child put some coins in the famous red kettle.
"It's still exciting, especially when kids come. They establish a pattern and think in positive terms of the Salvation Army," he added.

Miller, 80, is a former national commander of the Salvation Army - essentially, the CEO position for the Christian-based organization in the United States. He and his wife retired to Lawrenceville from New York 14 years ago and about two months ago they moved to a new house in Loganville.

As a 4th-generation Salvation Army soldier, Miller started ringing bells with his father when he was 10 and living in Hartford, Conn.
"My dad was an officer and he was in charge of the kettles. I was proud of my father - we really felt like we were helping people," he said.

That stint in the early 1920s as a boy resulted in a lifelong passion for Miller. Living in the middle of the ocean during World War II didn't even keep him from raising money for the Salvation Army.
"I lived on a minesweeper for two years (from 1943 to 1945) and I set up a kettle on the fantail (back) of the ship," he said. "I used a kettle from the mess. And we did very well."

Today, Miller is a Gwinnett County Rotarian and volunteers as a bell ringer. And, yes, he admits that over the years the cold weather sometimes makes him cringe and want to stay home.
"But that makes me think it's all the more reason to go out," he said. "The Salvation Army not only feeds the hungry, but it gives blankets and clothes ... it's a good program."

To continue to meet the needs of the growing number of people in need in Gwinnett County, the Salvation Army hopes to raise $120,000 as part of its popular Red Kettle campaign. In all of metro Atlanta, the campaign goal is set at $900,000. The Gwinnett Salvation Army also hopes to assist 676 families and 1,492 children this year with its Angel Tree Program.

Todd Tibbetts, a fellow Gwinnett Rotarian, admires Miller's example.
"Ringing a bell for him is very important - it's who he is and what he stands for," Tibbetts said. "He believes in the mission of the Salvation Army and he feels he can make a difference. And he does."
Capt. Bret McElroy, who heads up the Lawrenceville Salvation Army office, agreed.

"For him, it's a ministry. His heart is in it," he said.
Miller intends to keep ringing bells for the Salvation Army, through rain, cold, gray skies and even that rare grumpy shopper.
"I've always kept it up because I didn't want to lose the sense of it," he said. "It's wonderful."

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