One good deed leads to another
Joni Miller ’ s mission to spread goodwill throughout the community
People often look for the good in others at Christmastime , but one Meridian woman is making it her mission to share goodwill all year long .
Joni Miller , a former floral designer and gift shop buyer now turned blogger , is using her Facebook page to spotlight ordinary residents who are making a difference in the community .
“ I try to get just ordinary people who are not on the front page or who are not widely known ,” said Miller . “ Regular people who are out there living their lives or doing their jobs .”
Since she started her project in April , she has spotlighted more than 70 local residents .
Joni Miller
Some are life-long friends , like Kerri King Porter , a local nurse for 34 years . Some are familiar to the community , such as county coroner Clayton Cobbler and Rocky Rockette , director of the Lauderdale County Animal Control Shelter .
Still , others are chance encounters Miller has had at local businesses , such as Pom Eason , a friendly server at Nick & Al ’ s ; Woodstock Furniture ’ s Caitlin Hatcher , who worked with Miller during a home renovation project ; VeVe , who
keeps the drive-thru window running at Chick-fil-A ; and Larry Martin , who works in the custom frame department at Hobby Lobby .
“ Once he helps you with something , he never forgets you ,” Miller wrote in her spotlight of Martin .
She links all of her posts with “# thepeoplethatyoumeetwhenyourewalkingdownthestreet .”
“ Most of the time it is just a chance meeting ,” Miller explained . “ I run into somebody I know or sometimes I will have a good experience in a restaurant or store and feel the person needs a shout out .
“ I really believe some of them have been divine meetings because I found out later that the post brought encouragement at a much-needed time for the person ,” she added .
Story and photos by Glenda Sanders
A hometown girl , Miller graduated from Meridian High in 1986 . She spent two years at Meridian Community College before transferring to Mississippi State University , where she graduated in 1990 with a bachelor ’ s degree in retail floristry management .
Miller returned home to Meridian and worked as the floral designer at Modern Garden Center for three years .
She met her husband , Davis Miller , who is now a retired rural developer with the U . S . Department of Agriculture , in Sunday school at a local church . Married for 30 years , they have two grown children . Daughter Blair and her husband , John Samuel Dailey , live in Fairhope . Their son , Carson , graduated from MSU last May and now resides in Mobile .
While her children were growing up , Miller worked as a freelance floral designer for 18 years decorating mostly for weddings and homes for the holidays . She then spent a decade working as a part-time buyer and displayer for the Clarkdale and Enterprise pharmacy gift shops .
Once that role was over , she decided to focus
# thepeoplethatyoumeetwhenyourewalkingdownthestreet
more on her writing .
Miller had started a blog , called “ Motherhood & Muffin Tops ,” back in 2014 and it has garnered quite a following . She shares lighthearted and uplifting experiences about motherhood , being a woman and her faith .
“ Writing is so very therapeutic ,” she said . “ If I am going through a loss or I am trying to figure something out , if I write about it and get it to make sense on paper then I just feel better .”
Her current project to spread goodwill began from a blog post last December in which she was bemoaning all of the negativity seen these days on social media .
“ We had gotten to a place where if you turned on the television or you got on social media , then everything was one big angry debate ,” Miller said .
14 • MERIDIAN LIFE