Retired Staff Sgt. James Mabry uses his MILITARY STAR® card whenever he shops at the Fort Eisenhower Exchange because he likes earning rewards points on his purchases. A swipe of the card late last year led to an entirely different reward: having his entire card balance paid off.
Mabry was randomly selected as one of five grand prize winners in the 10th Annual MILITARY STAR Your Holiday Bill Is on Us sweepstakes. He was presented with a mock check representing his $8,122.50 balance—now paid in full—during a celebration at the Fort Eisenhower PX this week.
“This means a lot to me,” said Mabry, a Desert Storm Veteran who served 20 years in the Army. “It came at the right time. With this paid off, I can catch up on some other bills.”
Mabry, a Hephzibah resident, is a regular shopper at the PX.
“The prices are very reasonable, and they have good-quality items,” he said. “It’s a friendly environment. I like being around the military.”
Mabry has had his MILITARY STAR card since the program started in the 1990’s as the Deferred Payment Plan. In addition to the rewards points, he likes to use his card to fill up on gas at the Express, saving 5 cents per gallon with the cardmember discount.
“It’s a privilege to celebrate a hero like Sgt. Mabry,” Harris said. “With this prize, the Exchange and MILITARY STAR honor his 20 years of selfless service to our country.”
During November and December, shoppers worldwide automatically earned an entry in the Your Holiday Bill Is on Us Sweepstakes every time they used their MILITARY STAR card—totaling nearly 5 million entries this year. Five grand-prize winners had their MILITARY STAR balances paid off (or received a statement credit if their balance was below $2,500) in the sweepstakes. Ten second-place winners received $1,000 statement credits and 25 third-place winners received $500 statement credits. Since the annual sweepstakes began 10 years ago, MILITARY STAR has paid off nearly $400,000 in balances for members of the military community.
The MILITARY STAR program is administered by the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).
Another invaluable organization at any military base is the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR). As ABD announced last week, we began a partnership with Ft. Eisenhower’s MWR program, which will share what the base has to offer to our business community and what ABD has to offer to those affiliated with the base.
We began by spotlighting the former Gordon Lakes golf course. Some in our area may not know that it is open community-wide. Here is some info on the course and here is some info on pricing during Masters week.
