Teenager Collects a Million Thanks For American Troops

By Terri Lukach
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2004 – It's not every day a
16-year-old gets to meet the
president of the United States, but Shauna Fleming of
Orange, Calif., is no ordinary
teenager.

Shauna collected one million letters of thanks for U.S.
servicemembers, and she gave
the milestone letter to the president in a private White
House meeting today.

In late October, Shauna received that milestone letter, a
handmade card from Stephanie
Cope Francis of Howell North High School in St. Charles,
Mo.

"Meeting my goal was exciting," Shauna said, "but doing
what I had planned from the
beginning, which was to give the letter to the president,
was even better - very
neat!" Shauna said Bush thanked her for what she is doing.
"It means a lot to the
troops," Shauna said, recalling the president's words to
her. "You are doing a great
job, and keep up the good work."

Shauna said Bush seemed very excited by the project, but
apparently not as excited as
her father. "Meeting the president was awesome," Michael
Fleming said. "What a great
man. He just made everyone feel so comfortable. It was a
great experience for us."
Shauna's mother and her brother, Ryan, accompanied her to
the Oval Office.

It was just barely six months ago, as part of National
Military Appreciation Month,
that Shauna, then a high school freshman launched a
campaign called "A Million Thanks"
to collect and distribute a million letters to U.S. forces
fighting for freedom in the
global war on terror.

To spread the word and stir up enthusiasm, Shauna started
the month May 3 by setting
up shop under the tent of NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth at the
Auto Club 500 in Fontana,
Calif. Later, she met country music superstar John Michael
Montgomery in Nashville,
Tenn., where the two teamed up to do more than 70 radio and
television interviews.

By Memorial Day, the duo was again promoting "A Million
Thanks" during the May 30
Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.
Montgomery sang his hit
"Letters From Home" at the race's opening ceremony, and
Shauna distributed letters to
servicemembers who were special guests of NASCAR.

Shauna said when she first heard Montgomery's song, which
tells of a deployed soldier
receiving letters from his parents and girlfriend, she knew
it was a perfect fit for
her project. "It's sort of the theme song," she said at
the time.

A week before the race, the project passed the
400,000-letter mark – almost halfway to
Shauna's million-letter goal. "We've gotten letters from
everywhere," Shauna said
then, "all across the country, and even from Italy and
Canada."

Little did she know that Military Appreciation Month would
be just the start of
something much bigger. By July, she was not only a regular
on the radio and racing
circuit but even had her own Web site and radio show to
promote the project. The radio
show, which discusses the campaign and includes guest
interviews, took shape after
station owner Chris Murch, a former Marine captain,
contacted Shauna after seeing her
on the Fox News Channel on Memorial Day.

"Doing an Internet radio show gives me the opportunity to
tell people around the world
that Americans do appreciate what our military men and
women do for our country, and
not to believe everything they read," Shauna said. "It also
lets me inform everyone
what I hear from our soldiers who are out there, and how we
can help them and their
families."

In addition to letters for the troops, the project expanded
to include the collection
of used CDs and DVDs for distribution to forces stationed
overseas.

During her visit to Washington, Shauna is slated to visit
the Pentagon on Nov. 19. She
also plans to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at
Arlington National Cemetery.
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