JustSayOohRah

By Beth N. Gray, Times Correspondent
In Print: Wednesday, September 2, 2009

MASARYKTOWN — Dee Mills has worked tirelessly for years as founder of Lea’s Prayers and Postage to bring joy to troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, it’s time for her service to be honored — in a big way.

Mills has brought national fame to herself and this tiny crossroads community in Hernando County as the 2009 winner of the national Energizer Keep Going Hall of Fame award. The award celebrates people whose attributes and actions best exemplify qualities of the Energizer Bunny: perseverance, determination and never-quit attitude.

The bunny is featured in ads plugging the battery company’s theme, "It keeps going and going and going."

Among thousands of applicants for the Hall of Fame, Mills, 53, was selected in June by a company panel from among 100 finalists, then named one of the Top 10.

Brief biographies of the 10 appeared on the Energizer Web site, and viewers were asked to vote their choice for a Hall of Fame inductee. The company announced her selection this week. Mills learned of her win about two weeks ago but she was sworn to secrecy.

After Marine Sgt. Lea Mills, then 21, son of Mills and her husband, Rob, was killed in Iraq in April 2006, Mills launched her effort to let deployed troops know they are not forgotten.

While many groups and individuals baked and gathered treats, bought personal hygiene items, and wrote cards and messages, they were faced with paying for postage. A shoe-size box of goods can cost up to $9 in postage.

Mills began soliciting donations at any gathering that would have her. In three years, Mills has collected and spent nearly $88,000 sending packages to war zones. She prays over each package.

On Tuesday, while packing for the induction ceremony that will be held Thursday in St. Louis, she was ecstatic. "Oh, wow, I am very excited,” she said, adding, "and a little scared because I’m going to be on a couple of TV stations and meeting Cal Ripken Jr."

Ripken, the first Energizer Hall of Fame inductee in 2005, was celebrated for playing more than 2,000 consecutive games without a lapse for the Baltimore Orioles.

"I just want to represent the troops in the best way,” she said. "They’re my inspiration to keep going in the best way. I’m the team mom. It’s not just me going, but the troops."

As for collecting the most votes in the online balloting, Mills credited "my troops, kids in Iraq and Afghanistan, a congressional person, Blue and Gold Star moms. Everybody who supports the troops alongside me supports me."

(Gold Star mothers are those who have lost an offspring in the military field; Blue Star Mothers who have an offspring currently serving.)

On the trip to the induction ceremony, which Energizer is paying for her and her husband, Mills doesn’t aim to just bask in the limelight.

"I’m hoping to get some support from other organizations around St. Louis, hoping we’ll get some other support for what we’re doing," she said.

As for the $5,000 prize Energizer will award to her favorite charity, Mills echoed the sentiment she expressed when she learned earlier this year that she had been nominated: "Well, you know what my charity is."

She’ll also receive a $10,000 personal prize that she intends to use for travel, but not to exotic leisure destinations. "There are some trips I’ve been wanting to make to memorialize my son," she said.

On Oct. 23, a Remembering the Brave event will be held in Washington, D.C. It will coincide that weekend with the Marine Marathon, which attracts thousands of runners from across the United States. Mills wants to be there.

Mills also has pegged as a destination a troop homecoming in November at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Jan Zabel, the family services chairwoman for VFW Auxiliary 9236, Hernando Beach, and the person who nominated Mills for the award, was thrilled that her friend had been honored.

"I’m so excited," she said, "because one of the things Dee has always wanted to do is something like a Salute Fest for Gold Star families." The women already are busy planning the event.

Beth Gray can be contacted at graybethn@earthlink.net.

Read my last post about “Momma” Dee Mills!