Pottsgrove Teen Crowned 2017 Pennsylvania USA Ambassador Miss

Faith Drumheller

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by USA Ambassador

Lower Pottsgrove resident Faith Drumheller, 16, has been named as the 2017 Pennsylvania USA Ambassador Teen by the Tampa based USA Ambassador Pageant.

She will travel in July to Innisbrook Resort in Tampa, Florida to represent the Keystone State and compete in the 2017 national pageant where the contestants will be scored in four categories.

During the national competition, individual interview with judges comprises 35 percent of the score, onstage chat 15 percent, with evening gown 25 percent and fashion wear 25 percent as the remaining categories scored to detennine the winner.

In addition to the overall compulsory competitions, delegates may enter optional competition categories of Natural and Glamour Photogenic, Fit and Fabulous, Runway Modeling, Community Service, Academic
Achievement/Resume, and Spokesmodel.

"The USA Ambassador system is a charity driven organization with a mission to promote success through leadership, integrity, character and confidence," Drumheller said, "and pageantry is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience in important life skills such as being interviewed and presenting yourself with poise and confidence in a business setting."

Exemplifying the mission of the USA Ambassador system, charity and service are a part of Faith's everyday
life. She's an active volunteer at the Keystone Villa Retirement Community, as well as a dedicated and committed tutor for elementary students through a program known as Project Purpose.

The charity she holds closest to her heart is "In Ian's Boots," a charity that collects and provides shoes and winter boots to those in need.

Faith is a 10th grade student at West-Mont Christian Academy and a year-round volleyball junkie.

Her journey in pageantry got off to a super start in 2016, as she competed for the first time, winning both an Overall Beauty title as well as Most Photogenic competitions.

Faith is thrilled to be a part of the 2017 USA Ambassador "BeTheGood" family, and will compete at nationals to win a prize package that includes a cash award, and three exciting national trips that include a cruise, a trip to Washington, DC and a holiday trip to New England.

Additionally, the prize package contains a national photo session and the opportunity to appear as a national titleholder in the prestigious Pageantry Magazine.

Tropical Storm Relief in Linfield

Floodwaters wash over a car in Dominica where Tropical Storm Erika has killed at least 20 people, with many more still missing.

In Ian's Boots is trying to pull together 1,500 pairs of shoes for victims of Tropical Erika in Dominica.

The shoes will be assembled and packed up for delivery to UNICEF starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, at the Linfield Shoe Box, 43 Railroad St., Linfield.

According to CNN, flooding from Erika has killed 20 people in Dominica, "as torrential rains burst the banks of rivers and streams with turbulent force. Erika swept away even more people, who are still missing, authorities there said."

Dominica was deluged by 12 inches of rain in fewer than 10 hours, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. The waters also pushed walls of mud down hills, destroying homes and livelihoods.

They have cut off the village of Petite Savanne, where rescuers are searching for mudslide victims, with other countries in the region providing helicopters and other assistance.

In Ian's Boots is a non-profit named after the late Ian Joshua Miller a North Coventry 12-year-old who was killed in 2010 in a sledding accident.

Inside his ski boot was found this Bible passage, James 1:2-4:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

His parents, Ron and Holly Wastler-Miller, founded In Ian's Boots in his memory. The non-profit collects and provides footwear for needy families.

Celebrity Auction Benefits 15 Organizations

The TriCounty Community Network will hold a celebrity auction at SunnyBrook Ballroom on Friday, Oct. 24 starting at 5:30 p.m.

You are invited to enjoy a reception hour with the celebrities, bod on sports memorabilia, trips, hot air balloon rides and participate in a live auction for a chance to win a dinner for two with a celebrity.

Click here for a list of silent auction items.

Celebrities include:

David Akers, former kicker for the Eagles and six-time pro bowler; 

Bill Clement, former center for the Flyers, NHL all-star and ESPN analyst;

Rian Wallace, former linebacker for the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steeler;

Cherri Gregg, community affairs reporter for KYW Newsradio and master of ceremonies;

Michael Smerconish, CNN talk show host, with whom you can win a studio tour.

Local celebrities include:
State Senator Bob Mensch;
State Representative Mark Painter;
Mason Scherer, Associate Producer, Dateline NBC & NBC News;
Nancy March, Editor of The Mercury and Regional Editor for Digital First Media;
Steady Moono, Ed.D., Vice President, Montgomery County Community College;
Ashley Pultorak, Program Officer, Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation;
Wil Hallman, President, Hallman Retirement Neighborhoods & President, SunnyBrook Foundation;

Tickets are $15 per person.

The event will benefit 15 local organizations including; 

Steel River Playhouse;

YWCA TriCounty;

Operation BackPack;

Laurel House;

Mosaic Community Land Trust;

Alzheimer's Association;

Women's Center of Montgomery County;

Pottstown Area Police Athletic League

Genesis Housing Corp.;

Pottstown Regional Public Library;

Boone Area Library;

Building a Better Boyertown;

TriCounty Community Network;

In Ian's Boots;

Community Health and Dental Care

The schedule is as follows:

• 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Reception Hour & Silent Auction. Meet the celebrities. Enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
• 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: Celebrity Auction
• 7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m:. Dinner for Celebrity Auction Winners. Dinner will be held immediately following the live auction at SunnyBrook Restaurant.

Click here to order tickets.

Birdies for Boots

The late Ian Miller

The non-profit In Ian's Boots organization will hold its Third Annual Birdies for Boots golf outing on Monday, Oct. 14 at the Applecross Country Club in Downingtown.

In the evening there will be a reception, dinner and silent auction.

This is the organization's only major fundraiser this year.

CBS 3’s Beasley Reece will, again, be the evening’s host and the Philadelphia Union’s goalkeeper,

Beasley Reece

Zac MacMath will also be here.

There will be an open beer and wine bar as well as a "fabulous" dinner.

Zac MacMath

The reception starts at 5 p.m. and dinner starts at 6 p.m., according to Ron Miller, whose son Ian, a student at WestMont Christian Academy, was killed on a Boy Scout sledding trip in 2010.

An inspirational Bible message was found in his boot, inspiring his parents to start this charity which provides footwear to the needy.

Inside his boot, the coroner found a typed passage from The Bible, James 1:2-4, which reads: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

This year the charity has sent out about 8,000 pairs of footwear so far. 

Orphans in Uganda show off new shoes and socks from In Ian's Boots.

Thousands have been distributed in the tri-county area as well as Philadelphia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Honduras, Guatemala, Latvia, Moldavia, Jamaica, Mexico and others. 

The group also helped a number of people, mostly youth, with community service requirements for school, church and legal needs. 

Last November the Gambone Management Company donated warehouse space, allowing the group to process many more shoes. Innumerable shoe drives have been held and we participated in many shoe giveaway events. 

The group will also be giving out the 3rd Annual “Pure Joy” Award!

All of this costs a significant amount of money. 

"We know everyone is hounded by phone, mail and email for donations but we want to ask you to
seriously consider coming to the dinner to help us to help others," Miller wrote.

"Also, if any of you are golfers or have a business that would like to be a sponsor it is not too late to sign up," he wrote.

You can register at www.birdiesforboots.org

Getting the Royal Boot

On Sunday, Jan. 27, the Reading Royals will be hosting "In Ian's Boots Night!"

The Royals will host the Las Vegas Wranglers with the game starting at 4:05pm. 

During this game, the Royals will recognize the "In Ian's Boots" Inc. Organization, whose mission is to spread the good news of Ian's faith by providing shoes and winter boots to those in need.

From each ticket sold on this page, $5 will go back to the In Ian's Boots Charity. 

Tickets, which are $15 plus a $2 processing fee for on-line purchases, must be purchased on-line by 11 a.m. Sunday.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Fans who bring a new or slightly used pair of shoes or boots will receive 2 vouchers that are valid for any 2012-2013 regular season home game.

There will be a post-game autograph session on the concourse. 

It is also a Berks Packing Family Day, which includes: $1 hotdogs, sodas, nachos, & popcorn.

If you do not select to have your tickets mailed, they will be at will call under your name on the day of the game. 

If you have any questions, call Jake at 610-898-7216.

According to an e-mail from In Ian's Boots, last year's event raised $600 "and we would like to break this record!!!"

The Royals play at the Sovereign Center in Reading.

You can click here for directions.

Fancy Footwork

These girls got sole!

Scouts from North Coventry Girl Scout Troop 41330 collected more than 100 shoes and boots to help those who lack therm.

The footwear was donated to the folks at In Ian's Boots, the non-profit organization founded by the parents of Ian Joshua Miller.

He was 12 years old when he was killed in a sledding accident in January of 2010.  

He was not wearing a helmet when he was sledding on a saucer style sled and collided with a ski
lift tower, he died from traumatic brain injury. 

The Emergency Department doctors found a message to all of us inside his boot. Ian had a Bible verse on a folded piece of paper inside his boot.  It is James 1:2-4:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Girl Scouts is celebrating 100 years of scouting and for this they have a badge the girls are working to obtain. 

The scouts needed to collect 100 items to donate - food, jackets etc. Troop 41330 decided to collect shoes! 

These eleven girls made their goal and then some!  On Thursday, they arrived bearing about 300 pairs of shoes!   

They helped sort the shoes which is the first step in the cleaning and packing process.  

Shoe-B-Doo-B-Doo

Why just barbecue, when you can barbecue for a good cause?

Today is the last day you can register for such an event and you should call 610-970-8820 to do so.

This Saturday, at 2 p.m. Holly Wastler-Miller and her husband Ron will host however many people choose to show up and help clean as many as 5,000 pairs of shoes for the needy.

Anyone coming is invited to bring lawn chairs, swim suits and one of the food items listed above.

The shoes will be donated to the needy through the Miller's organization, In Ian's Boots.

"In Ian's Boots," as you may recall from my March 23rd and April 18th posts, is a non-profit organization.

Recently, the organization benefited from a partnership with the Philadelphia Union soccer team, when portions of ticket sales raised money for the organization.

Wastler-Miller said they are still waiting for word on how much was raised.

In the meantime, they have more than 5,000 shoes to clean.

"We need all the hands we can get," Miller said.

Miller and her husband founded the organization as the result of the death of their 12-year-old son, Ian Miller, who was killed in a sledding accident in January 2010.

Rescue workers trying to revive Ian after his sled hit a ski lift tower while on a Scout trip Jan. 16, 2010 found a slip of paper in his boot.

On the paper was a passage from The Bible, James 1:2-4, which reads: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

That passage inspired them to form In Ian's Boots and they haven't looked back since.

If the Shoe Fits, Collect 600 of Them!

Rachel Miller cleans some of the 600 pairs of shoes she collected

Blogger's Note: We wanted to share with you a letter The Digital Notebook received recently from Ron and Holly Miller regarding the recent shoe drive conducted by Rachel Smith for the non-profit organization named after their late son Ian.



Dear Evan,
I just had to let you know the results of Rachel Smith’s shoe drive. She blew it out of the water!!! In just one week she collected exactly 600 pairs of shoes!

This is a complete In Ian’s Boots record for the number of shoes collected in a week. Frankly, this is the only week long drive we’ve experienced, as most drives last about a month and still don’t yield that amount of shoes. The number of shoes she collected is simply astounding.

Ron and I got the shoes from Rachel today (all paired and boxed!), and she came along with us to see the process to the end. Together we cleaned, sanitized and bagged 53 pairs of shoes in about 2 hours.

It is wonderful to know that we have kids like Rachel in this world.

Many thanks,

Ron and Holly

As you can see, Rachel is pretty busy as a result of her
shoe drive.

As some of you may remember from a March 23 post in The Digital Notebook, Rachel is a junior at  Berks Christian School.

The shoe drive Rachel organized involved three schools: Berks Christian School, Conestoga Christian School, and West-Mont Christian School, where Ian Miller had been a student. 

So if some of you are kicking yourself, because you missed the chance to help out a worthwhile organization, get out your calendar because you'll get another chance on Saturday, May 19.

That's when The Second Annual "Boots Bistro" Italian Dinner and Giant Raffle will be held start9ing at 6 p.m.at The Cedarville United Methodist Church in North Coventry.


It will feature:

• Great Italian Food from Giovanni's;
• Fabulous Dessert Buffet donated by the West-Mont Women's Circle from West-Mont Christian Academy; 
• The band, "Some Don't" return again this year with awesome live music;
• A Giant Raffle featuring at least 50 unique items and baskets - Something for the whole family!

All proceeds benefit In Ian's Boots, Inc. whose mission is to provide foot ware to those in need - from our local Pottstown community to across the globe.

Formed by Ron and Holly Miller, In Ian's Boots collects footwear for the needy in memory of their son Ian, who was killed in a 2010 sledding accident while on a Boy Scout trip and whose story became well known for what was found in his boot.


Click here if you would like to know more about the organization they formed, or go to www.iniansboots.org.

Here is the story I wrote for The Mercury about this remarkable young man.

Inside his boot, the coroner found a typed passage from The Bible, James 1:2-4, which reads: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."