During a recent food drive held in honor of the late M.A. Andrews hundreds of pounds of goods were collected to benefit the emergency food pantry at the Neal Senior Center in Shelby.
Milton "M.A." Andrews passed away on December 23, 2015 after a brief illness. Milton was a long time friend and writer for Shelby Shopper & Info and Rutherford Weekly.
He was widely known across Cleveland, Rutherford and the surrounding counties for his human interest stories and "seeking out the good stuff" about our communities. Milton had a lot of energy and seemed to have an unlimited supply of fresh ideas. He was a supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland County and a veteran of the U.S. Navy.
During the Food Drive the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland County, Community First Media and the Shelby VFW Post 4066 joined forces to collect food and dry goods to help seniors in need in our community.

Jack Weller, President of the Boys and Girls Club had this to say of his friend Milton:
The Boys & Girls Club lost an enthusiastic supporter of the Club when Milt Andrews ended his earthly journey earlier this year.
He enjoyed being around the kids to hear their stories as he would come to cover an event. More often than not he would spend several hours after the event was over just talking to folks. The article he wrote was about the people who were part of the event.
In 2013 the Club had a chance to have a new playground built through the help of Roger Davis at Playground Supply. We approached Sophia Goforth about naming the playground in Joe's honor. Their niece, Susan Goforth Porter volunteered to work with the Club to raise the funds in memory and in honor of Uncle Joe and Aunt Sophia. Milt wrote a wonderful article about this dedication and then worked to have something to share in the Shopper every two or three weeks. Milt was always lining the kids up for a picture. The day of the dedication of the playground, Milt was there posing the kids to show off the new playground.
The Food Drive for the Senior Center was what Milton wanted people to do to remember him. In his obituary he asked that you bring a bag of groceries to the church and let it be distributed to the poor. Milt was with us the day the picture was taken as folks from the Boys & Girls Club and the VFW met for a photo op.
He may have only been five feet six inches tall, but in my mind he was a big man with a big heart who loved helping people wherever he was.

All donations were very appreciated and will be distributed through the emergency food pantry at the Senior Center.
Paulette Putnam, Executive Director at the Senior Center said the need is great and these donations will go to help seniors with immediate needs.
If you would like to help: The Senior Center accepts donations of non-perishable food, paper products, laundry detergent and personal care items for the pantry during regular business hours. Please call the Center at 704-482-3488 for information on what the current needs are.
Milton is greatly missed, it is our hope that his memory be honored through this food drive project because everyone that knew Milton, knew of his generosity and how he put others before himself.

Pictured left to right: Jack Weller President of the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland County, Josh Propst Executive Director of Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland County, Zach Propst, Maraja Pass, Ikeria Haynes, Doug Housh, and Tim Southard, Commander of Shelby VFW Post 4066 pose with the mountain of goods collected over a period of a few weeks.