As more than a million dollars' worth of food was served at the Hunts Point Back to School Fair, Mills stressed the importance of giving kids healthier food options.

"It's about education, and if you feed kids great food then they have better brain function, it's better for education, it's going to be sustainable,” said Mills. “Because when we were kids we got meat once a week, now people are having it 21 times a day. We need to have alternates, great tasting alternates."

Mills was named honorary chairperson of the Hunts Point Alliance for Children and received a congressional award for her efforts.