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. 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.”