AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)– Paying tribute to the families of servicemen and women who gave their lives for this country. It’s a serious mission at Augusta University.

Caitlyn Burner is a student at the university. She lost her father while he was in active duty in Iraq.

“We want to raise awareness in the community by just telling everybody what a Gold Star family is, handing out these awesome t shirts and raffle tickets and just people asking us what this flag means. It means the world to me to spread that awareness in my community.”

She is passionate about raising funds for Children of Fallen Patriots.

“It is a foundation that has been there for me since the beginning of my college career, from when I did dual enrollment in high school to now, when I’m almost done with my bachelor’s degree. So it means the world to me to be able to fundraise for them and kind of give back to them for helping me out.”

Caityn was only 6-years-old when her dad died.

“He’s a hero. You know, he was unselfish as could be, you know, sacrificing his life for his country. I mean, that’s pretty unselfish to me. He was funny. He used to always give me these bear hugs. That’s my best memory. He used to squeeze me so tight.”

“So the circumstances are sad. You know, no one ever wants to be a Gold Star family. It’s even hard to hear all the time, you know? But there’s a lot of different organizations out there for us, for educational purposes. There are retreat purposes, therapeutic purposes. So there are a lot of organizations that are out there to help us. But there’s so much of the world that doesn’t know who who Gold Star families are and what it means to be a Gold Star family.

Caitlyn says she started the organization at Augusta University because she started to feel a little lonely.

“And kind of feeling like maybe I’m the only one at my university who has gone through this. And maybe that’s why so many people aren’t aware. And you see so many veterans groups or like military child groups, which is great, but I wanted to kind of feel included in a way. So I started this organization, hopefully to get some more Gold Star family members into the organization if they existed. And they did.”

You can learn more about Caitlyn’s organization on Instagram or on the AU website, just search gold star families. (https://www.augusta.edu/military/goldstar-org.php)