STOCKTON, Calif. — Community members are fundraising to dedicate a bench and softball tournament in memory of Alycia Reynaga, the Stockton teen stabbed to death while on campus at Stagg High School in April 2022.
In three weeks, Alycia, known to family and friends as 'LaLa,' would have turned 16. Instead of buying a cake and singing the familiar Happy Birthday song, Alycia's dad, Manuel Reynaga, is forced to mark the now somber date by releasing balloons at his daughter's gravesite.
"She was a softball player, she's really good. Man, that girl had talent," Manuel reminisced. "We don't have a memorial for me to talk to my daughter."
For Manuel and other family members, remembering the teen has meant a visit to the location where she was violently killed or a painful trip to the San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery where she was laid to rest.
Now, Alycia's family and the greater Stockton community will have a place to remember the life of the teen after the Stockton-San Joaquin Lions Club installs a bench in her memory.
"That's the hardest thing to do, as a parent, is to go where she was murdered," said Manuel. "What the other people are doing, they're acknowledging my daughter, and it means a lot."
The bench will be placed alongside a plaque and a tree near a baseball field at Stockton's Victory Park, a location Manuel says will allow the city a permanent place to remember his daughter. It will be dedicated on Feb. 22, Alycia's birthday.
"Everyone goes to that park. This is for everybody, you know, a lot of people walking or jogging in that park, so I think it's good right there," said Manuel. "It's an honor for them to put it by the field."
A softball tournament, tentatively scheduled for late spring or early summer, will also bear Alycia's name.
On Feb. 11, a fundraiser will be held at Mountain Mike's Pizza on Robinhood Drive where 35% of purchases will be donated to the bench dedication. The family is also accepting donations via GoFundMe to help establish the softball tournament.
Leftover funding will go towards Alycia's charity, LaLa's Love Foundation, which offers scholarships to high school softball players and support for families dealing with similar tragedies.
Manuel says in addition to expanding scholarship opportunities, he is also hoping to use the charity and events in the future to raise awareness about mental health.
"I want to raise awareness for the mental health of people, to check in on their family, friends and check in on themselves," said Manuel. "I'm going to bring that in with what we're doing for her, to bring awareness to that. That's one of my main things because I don't want this happening again."
For now, the idea of keeping his daughter's memory alive by sitting on the park bench, under the shade of the tree in her honor, and helping others is what's bringing Manuel and his family closer to some level of peace.
"Anything that happens bad in our city, we always come together and help out. But in this alone, I've seen firsthand how kind people are and how generous," said Manuel. "I think it'd be easier for me just to go where they made a memorial for her, you know, at Victory Park, and just sit there and honor her."
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