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Catlett resident Alvin Miller of Children's Medical Ministries handles wheelchairs slated for repair and shipment to children in Colombia.
Miller collects sports wheelchairs in Mid-Atlantic states so children and adults, such as these in Colombia, can participate in competitions.
Alvin Miller, a Mennonite from southern Fauquier, passes out candy to children at a cancer center in the Quindio region of Colombia. He has traveled to more than 30 countries on medical mission trips in the past 12 years. |
By CATHY DYSON
Alvin Miller is a humble Mennonite from southern Fauquier County, a man who goes out of his way to help his neighbors.
It's just that, in his mind, his neighbors aren't only the people who live in Catlett with him.
They're also children who wander the streets of Peru and the slums of India, the jungles of Colombia and the villages of Kenya.
The 69-year-old great-grandfather volunteers with Children's Medical Ministries, a humanitarian organization in Crofton, Md.
Since Miller joined the nonprofit group 12 years ago, he has been to more than 30 countries and directed projects that range from drilling wells in India to distributing wheelchairs in South America.
"Everybody should have an Alvin Miller, he just does it all," said Bill Collins, a retired Army colonel who founded the group with his wife, Erma, in 1988. "He really has a compassion for people, that's his biggest asset."
Miller has another vital resource: free travel. After years of doing construction work, Miller wanted to try something different.
So he spent 10 years handling luggage for Continental Airlines. He was furloughed twice, but was called back both times and stayed long enough to earn free lifetime travel.
He has made the most of the benefit.
To Colombia 66 times
"I've been to Colombia 66 times," Miller said, as if there's nothing unusual about it. "Figure how much that would cost if you had to pay for it."
His wife, Esther, also is entitled to the travel benefits, but she doesn't fly. Her ministry is at home, taking care of four elderly women who live with them.
The Millers have been married 48 years and have six children, 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Their kitchen is decorated with plaques, such as the one that says Alvin's name means "beloved by all," and decorative plates from foreign places.
Miller's work sometimes puts him in contact with corrupt governments and jungle guerillas, but his wife doesn't fret every time he boards a plane.
"I figure the Lord is using him, and He'll take care of him," she said. "Besides, Alvin is really happy."
Concerned with others
Miller started mission work 23 years ago with other organizations, and took trips to places like Haiti and Peru. He helped build schools and homes for missionaries and visited regions rocked by floods and earthquakes.
He's also the longtime chaplain at the Catlett Volunteer Fire Department. His son, Mark Miller, drove the firetruck that crashed into an Amtrak train 20 years ago.
Mark was killed, and his father wondered if he could continue with the department. Then he thought about all the young members who would need a spiritual counselor more than ever.
"He's always concerned with the needs of others. He wants to make sure they're doing OK," said Kalvyn Smith, chief of the Catlett fire department. "He treats all of us like we're his sons, he really does."
He may be a father figure in Catlett, but he's known as "Uncle" in India. That's the term of respect for an older man, Miller said.
When Miller travels to foreign destinations--at least 10 times a year--he stays among the locals. He drinks bottled water and eats native food, as long as it's cooked well and not too spicy.
He always carries blankets for a makeshift bed.
"They know that Uncle can sleep anywhere," Miller said.
'HE'S THE CAT'S MEOW'
Of all the tasks he's assigned, one of his favorites is gathering wheelchairs. He drives up and down the East Coast, collecting used chairs that need refurbishing or new chairs that didn't sell.
He fills containers with as many as 200 electric or manual chairs and ships them abroad. He works with physical therapists to match chairs to children, but he has also learned how to adjust controls to proper heights and to make sure those with cerebral palsy have sufficient head and neck support.
Miller has been interviewed on national television in Colombia, which has received seven shipments of wheelchairs. He was offered a desk next to the nation's president and is on a first-name basis with the first lady, Collins said.
"Everybody there, they just think he's the cat's meow," Collins added.
Miller works with officials so his cherished chairs don't sit idle for months, awaiting delivery. But his organization has a firm policy: Volunteers distribute the chairs and crutches, vitamins and medicine themselves.
"We do not allow the government to get ahold of them, for the simple reason we don't know where they go," he said.
He longs to do more
The Catlett fire department donated a used generator to Miller's ministry when it built a new station last year. The generator was sent to a hospital in India, where the electricity regularly went off in the middle of operations.
"He always brings that perspective back to us, to let us know how good we do have it here in America," Chief Smith said.
Miller also realizes how blessed his country is. But after seeing the conditions that children, especially, live in around the world, he wants to do his part to help while he still can.
"I always appreciate my country and I'm always glad to come home," he said, "but then I long to be able to do something again."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
| Alvin Miller drives throughout the Mid-Atlantic area to get new and used wheelchairs for Children's Medical Ministries.
He typically travels alone. When he gets tired, he pulls over and takes a quick power nap, which helps the 69-year-old cover as much as 500 miles a day. When Miller travels abroad, he goes with the local residents and often is the only American in the group. "He has tremendous oversight and responsibility," said Bill Collins, the ministry's founder. The ministry has programs in 30 countries. Since 1988, the group has distributed an estimated $7 million in medical supplies and disaster relief, according to its Web site. : childmed.org |
