— The students at Miller’s Martial Arts studios in Richland Township and Windber get a kick out of helping the community.

The 85 students in the school give karate demonstrations throughout the year at charitable events.

They are getting ready for their biggest demonstration of the year at the fourth annual Feel Great Fun Event and 5K run/walk on April 23 at the City View Restaurant, 709 Edgehill Drive in Westmont. The event, which raises money to fight cancer, is being sponsored by Wings of Hope, a Hooversville-based charity.

Christopher Miller, owner and chief instructor of the karate school, said they were invited to perform four years ago for the charity’s first event.

Master Miller, who is a fourth-degree black belt, said he noticed people turning in their donations sheets at the event and asked if his school could get involved in that aspect also. He was given the nod.

The next year, students and their parents along with the staff at the school solicited donations. Miller said they also decided to sell T-shirts to raise even more money. Everyone at the school was asked to buy and sell T-shirts with the school raising $950. The following year, they raised $1,310, and this year, the goal is $1,500, he said.

Everyone associated with the school is involved totally with school projects, he said.

Last year, Miller’s wife, Shelly, school program director, and a parent of a student, Shelly Corle, started a Hats and Mittens campaign to benefit a Johnstown nonprofit organization. The pair erected a Christmas tree at both karate studios with students and parents decorating the tree with hats and mittens, he said. The items were donated to Mom’s House in Johnstown, he said.

Each Christmas, the school collects gifts for the Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots program, Miller said.

The Millers’ three daughters, Jordan, 8, Taylor, 6, and Addison, 2, also take karate lessons and participate in all the fundraisers.

Also instrumental in the school’s success at the studios and in the community are instructors Adam Marsh, Jeremy Mostoller, Ashley Moyer and Brian Mesteller, he said.

Miller said his school donates its time to give more than a dozen karate demonstrations annually at various charity events and for organizations such as the Altoona Curve. This week, girls at the school will give a karate demonstration for a Girl Scout troop, he said.

Miller, whose school belongs to the York County-based Pan Am Tang Soo Do Federation, said the federation and its president have been a big influence on his school’s charity work.

Federation President Chong Su Kim leads by example by conducting outreach programs in York County, he said.

The federation stresses that students be good citizens. Each month his school presents awards to students fulfilling that principle, Miller said.

The schools’ involvement in the community would not happen without the staff, students and parents, he said.

“I think it’s important to give back to the community that gives to us,” he said about his schools’ efforts.

For spearheading his school’s work in the community, Miller, a Davidsville area resident, is the Person of the Week.

Tina Honkus, founder and president of Wings of Hope, said the karate school presents  an awesome demonstration.

“The crowd loves them,” she said.

Honkus believes the school enjoys helping the community and was attracted to Wings of Hope because funds raised help local folks battling cancer.

“Miller, his staff, students and parents do a lot in the community,” she said. “They’re like a family.”

 Miller is a corrections officer for the State Correctional Institution at La Belle in Fayette County.