Christmas Hope for Gold Star Kids
Lyette Reback, a visionary leader fueled by gratitude and service, founded Believe With Me in 2015 at her North Palm Beach dining room table, igniting a mission along with a few passionately patriotic friends to honor Gold Star Families including the children, spouses, and parents of military service members lost to combat, training accidents, PTSD-related suicide, service-connected illnesses, or active-duty incidents. What began as a high school student initiative to deliver Christmas gifts to 168 Gold Star children has blossomed into a national movement, serving over 12,000 children with personalized gifts over the past decade, thanks in large part to a collaboration with FedEx.
That first year, Lyette’s vision caught the attention of a FedEx executive through a mutual friend and a board member of Believe With Me. FedEx’s contribution of in-kind shipping enabled the Believe With Me team to deliver Santa sacks brimming with gifts to 168 Gold Star children. By 2016, the program had grown to serve 350 children, and since then FedEx’s unwavering commitment has helped scale it to a record 2,500 children annually by 2025. Operating from a Florida-based warehouse that resembles a “Southern North Pole,” Believe With Me’s team of patriots pack personalized wish-list gifts into Santa sacks, which FedEx ships nationwide at no cost to the organization. This collaboration has been pivotal, ensuring that every child receives a tangible reminder of their hero’s legacy during the holidays.
A Gold Star mother, Amy Dozier, whose daughter has received gifts annually since losing her father, SFC Jonathan Dozier, in Iraq, shares: “For nearly a decade, my daughter and I have been loved on by Believe With Me. After losing Jon, I’ll never forget her first Christmas package at age 8—a burlap sack with a red silk bow, holding an American flag and a note of hope. Christmas is bittersweet; Jon’s last call was on Christmas Day, weeks before his final mission. These gifts remind us that his memory lives on, and his sacrifice is not forgotten.”
Raised outside of Houston, Texas, Lyette, the daughter of a Marine Corps Veteran, was instilled with American pride and respect for service. She graduated from Hockaday School for Girls in Dallas, Texas in 1991 and from Palm Beach Atlantic University in 1996, becoming the first person in her family to earn a college degree. She balanced raising 16 children and serving on nonprofit boards before founding Believe With Me in honor of her father. “Service is the heartbeat of my family,” Lyette says. “With FedEx’s support, Believe With Me honors Gold Star Families by ensuring their sacrifices are never forgotten, and by teaching the students that serve alongside us to know the high cost of their freedom and opportunities."
Believe With Me’s flagship An American Gold Star Christmas program, funded through events like the Freedom 4 Miler and Gold Star Christmas Gala, delivers joy to both returning and new Gold Star children each year. Beyond the holidays, the organization provides scholarships, emergency aid, and community events. Lyette’s 16 children actively participate, inspiring a youth-focused mission to educate and motivate the next generation.
When not homeschooling or packing gifts, Lyette and the Believe With Me team lead projects to honor the fallen, from memorial runs to youth mentorship. Believe With Me’s vision, amplified by FedEx’s decade-long support, unites communities to live a life worthy of the sacrifices our Gold Star Families continue to make, ensuring the legacy of America’s heroes endures with every FedEx-delivered gift.
About Believe With Me
Believe With Me is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support and resources to America's Gold Star Families, the families of fallen military service members. Serving all manners of military death, Believe With Me supports families of those Killed In Action, Killed in Training, PTSD Suicide, Service-Connected Illness and Active-Duty Accidents. Believe With Me provides the opportunity for civilians to give back to families of the fallen in tangible ways, with its most notable project being “An American Gold Star Christmas”, in which Believe With Me looks to provide 2,500 Gold Star Children with hand-selected gifts from personalized wishlists. Other national fundraising projects include “The Freedom 4 Miler,” a 4-mile run with each mile named after a fallen service member with their story shared along the course; “LemonAID Stand for the Fallen”, which consists of students and families all across the country hosting LemonAID stands and donating their earnings to Believe With Me over Memorial Day Weekend and “The House That Love Built”, where civilians partner with local business to provide home renovations, memorial gardens and mortgage-free homes for Gold Star Parents. Believe With Me also provides benevolence funding for Gold Star Families in financial crisis. Believe With Me's core mission is to “Bring Hope and Help to America’s Gold Star Families and Inspire the Next Generation to Live a Life Worthy of Their Sacrifices.”