Meet Scurry Miller

All great places have one thing in common: great people.

Although it was Scurry Miller’s work that brought him to Peoria, it was the community that made him stay. When he came up for a job interview, “It was the warmest community experience that I’ve had in all the cities I’ve lived in,” he says.

True statement: you don’t meet a person like Scurry every day. He defines authentic — kind and caring in a way that wraps you up like a hug and makes you feel safe. You might call it “Southern charm,” but there’s more to Scurry than that — much more. He didn’t come by who he is easily.

From boy’s homes and detention centers, to battling addiction and getting clean and sober at 21, Scurry was “surprised [he] made it to adulthood” by his own admission. That was, until his first job out of the program that helped him put the pieces of his life’s puzzle together. A regular paycheck at a treatment center led to community college to a 10-year practice as a counselor to the CEO of Peoria’s own Children’s Home.

Scurry couldn’t be happier. “There seems to be a togetherness here,” he says. “This community offers more support than anywhere else.”

“It was the warmest community experience that I’ve had in all the cities I’ve lived in,”

In his many years of experience in non-profits, Scurry has found that in many cities, company presidents or executives likely delegate community involvement to representatives. But in Peoria, he says, it’s nothing but all-hands-on. Which was exactly the energy that made Scurry realize he was right where he wanted to be: a place where folks were less concerned with rolling out red carpets, and more concerned with rolling up their sleeves.

Whether he’s supporting the East Bluff development efforts, or out with his partner Armando at some of Greater Peoria’s premiere music venues, he’s grateful to be his authentic self in a community that always supports being more.

Greater Peoria Q&A with Scurry Miller