Parents of young suicide victim aim to open teen center in Benicia
BENICIA, Calif. (KTVU) -- A Benicia family that lost a 16-year-old son to suicide last winter is taking it upon themselves to help prevent other parents from enduring the same nightmare.
16-year-old Benicia High School student Kyle Hyland had talent.
"Kyle was a musician, keyboardist, guitarist. Was in various bands," said his mother, Barbara Gervase.
Kyle's parents shared audio of him playing the Billy Joel classic song "Piano Man" a year before he died last December.
"He meant so much to our family. To all of us. Not just our immediate family, but to all of his aunts and his uncles and his cousins," explained Gervase.
Kyle's parents say he had a passion for music, a loving family, a wide network of friends and many different talents. But all that wasn't enough to keep him from feeling the desperation that brought on suicide.
"It was devastating. It still is, everyday," said Gervase. "Not a day goes by that we don't cry for him."
Kyle left no note, no goodbye and no explanation.
"You ask yourself the same question everyday. 'Why? Why did it happen?' We'll never know," said his mother. "And eventually, we're just going to have to accept that we're never going to know."
Now, Kyle's mother is leading the charge to save other families in Benicia from the same dark fate.
"There's a lot of kids in this town that have approached me since Kyle took his life, that have said that they're struggling. And that they're very sad and that they don't feel that there's really anyone that they can talk to," said Gervase.
She and Kyle's father created the Kyle Hyland Foundation for Teen Support. They have also started an on-line campaign to raise enough money to build a teen center where at-risk teens can get the help they need.
"They need the support. They need the education. They need to be trained how to cope. And we really don't have that at the school."
Kyle's parents told KTVU they're looking into any viable option to find the new home to the teen center in Benicia, but they say a city building with its history as the youth center and its proximity to the city pool make it the ideal spot.
Even the sign outside still says Benicia Youth Center.
"We would like to get that space back for the teens. Because it's very centrally located. It's right next to the pool in downtown Benicia, in close proximity to both the high school and the middle school," said Gervase.
Kyle's mother plans to speak to the school district in August and the city council in September, hoping for some funding and help to turn this project into a reality. "I think that he'd be real happy. He'd be happy about the teen center that we want to bring for his friends and the kids that are left," she said.
Kyle's parents just want to help other young people avoid the same tragedy that will haunt his family forever.
For more information or to donate money and help bring a teen center to Benicia, go to this website.