NEW PORT RICHEY, FL – The latest project for the non-profit group Racing 4 Vets is building a car that will honor Gold Star families.

• Gold Star father donates car to Racing 4 Vets non-profit
• Racing 4 Vets serves disabled vets, teaches them to rebuild cars
• Car to help raise awareness about Gold Star families

"Everybody that's building the car is all volunteer. They come together in their free time, and they want to pay tribute to those that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and for us to be free," said Racing 4 Vets President John Vann.

Vann said one of the ways Racing 4 Vets serves disabled veterans is by teaching them to put together and maintain racing vehicles. The program also helps them showcase those skills in a way that can lead to jobs.

"I'm a welder by trade and by military," said Sgt. Robert Fair. "Anything and everything that needs welding, that's me. I'm the guy for the job."

"Engine work, whatever I can lay a hand at," said Cpl. Jonathan Flores, a Purple Heart recipient.

While Sgt. Fair and Cpl. Flores are among the volunteers who will be working on the Gold Star car, restoring the 1966 Mustang was originally supposed to be done by someone else.

"I had this Mustang that I had been working on with Lea," said Robert Mills of the car he purchased more than 12 years ago. "He shipped out and I was going to be working on it while he was gone, and then when he got back we could finish it up. Well, he never came back."

Mills' son, Marine Sgt. Lea Mills, of Brooksville, was killed in action on April 28, 2006 in Iraq while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

"It seems like when he was killed, I kind of lost interest in it. It sat there and sat there," said Mills. 

Mills' pain is something Dean Coleman understands all too well.

"The Gold Star family community has the closest bond you can get," Coleman said. "It's not something you want to be, but you'll never find anything closer than a Gold Star bond."

Coleman's son, Army Spc. Justin Coleman, died in combat in Afghanistan in 2009. Coleman became involved with Racing 4 Vets after he started organizing poker runs in his son's honor. Proceeds are donated to organizations that help veterans, including Racing 4 Vets. It was Coleman who told Mills the organization might be a good home for the unfinished project.

"I said, 'You know what? These guys could use something like this,'" Mills said.

Vann said when the car is complete, it will make the rounds at events nationwide to help raise awareness about Gold Star families. It will be paired with last year's project, a car aimed at raising awareness about veteran suicide rates.

"This will represent Gold Star families everywhere. I know some of them feel left out in different areas because they're out in the boonies and stuff. Nobody's aware of them. So, this will represent them everywhere," said Coleman.

"Gold Star families need to get recognition," said Mills. "They don't want pity. They just want to be recognized for the sacrifice their children made for this country," said Mills. 

Vann said the group is looking for "everything you'd need to build a car." Anyone interested in donating materials can visit http://www.racing4vets.org.

Mills has seen renderings of what the car will look like when it's complete.

"It'll be a pretty cool car when it's done -- make Lea proud," he said.