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One in a Million
By Ingrid Skjong
 Shauna Fleming, 17, might seem like a typical junior at Lutheran High School of Orange, California, throwing herself into school activities like drama and chamber choir. But as the founder of A Million Thanks, a thank-you letter-writing campaign for U.S. troops that she started as a school service project when she was a freshman, she stands out in the crowd.
“I wanted to do something for our troops, and my father suggested the idea,” she explains. “When I asked how many letters I should send, he jokingly said, ‘How about a million?’ I didn’t take it as a joke, so that was my goal—a million thanks!”
Seven months later, in October 2004, Fleming hit her mark and presented the one-millionth letter to President Bush in a ceremony at the Oval Office. A whirlwind followed: Three meetings with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon; a visit to Arlington Cemetery to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on behalf of Lutheran High; the title of spokesperson for National Military Appreciation Month (May); and the publication of her book, A Million Thanks: My Campaign to Send One-Million Letters to Our Troops (Doubleday).
“God wants us to have big dreams, but He also wants us to take action. He wants us to support one another and lift each other up,” she says.
Fleming recently reached her second goal of passing out 1.4 million letters and e-mails, symbolizing that every person serving in the Armed Forces has received one thank-you note. The Pacific Southwest Region of Thrivent Financial contributed 150 letters to the cause, which financial representatives wrote during a retreat in June 2005.
The next step for Fleming? To start chapters of A Million Thanks in schools across the country. She credits much of her success to the support of her family: parents Michael and Robbin, and her three brothers, Justin, 26, Christopher, 24 and Ryan, 11. And even with her hectic schedule, she manages to stay connected to her friends, maintain National Honor Society-worthy grades and keep everything in perspective.
“I don’t think it really has sunk in yet,” she says. “The other day, my father was writing a recap of what I have done since my campaign began. As he read it, it was like it was someone else. Then I realized, ‘Hey, I really did all of those things.’”
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