An ongoing fundraiser has been organized to help raise money for Philando Castile’s daughter to go to college someday, Teen Vogue reports. Dae’Anna Reynolds, now five years old, was in the back seat of Castile’s car when officer Jeronimo Yanez approached the vehicle at a traffic stop in July 2016 and fatally shot Castile. Dae’Anna gained attention when video of her and her mother Diamond was released after Yanez’s acquittal, showing the two of them being detained in a police cruiser after the shooting. In the video, Dae’Anna is heard saying to her mother, “I can keep you safe. I don’t want you to get shooted.”
The fund, listed on YouCaring under “Scholarship for Dae’Anna Reynolds,” has earned over $10,000 in just a week of being online. Campaign organizer Maggie Mason wrote on the page, “I’m a mom of two, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this baby. I’ve felt helpless wondering what will happen to her…There were funds raised to support immediate needs for both the Castile and Reynolds families, but I looked everywhere for a scholarship specifically for Dae-Dae and couldn’t find one. With the help of some friends, we contacted her family and looked into the legalities surrounding how to set this up.”
“It was an awesome gesture for someone to think of her and start this fund,” Dae’Anna’s grandmother Dafina Doty told Teen Vogue. “I think Dae’anna will be able to use the funds for what path she chooses in the future.”
The money will legally belong to Castile’s daughter, known as Dae-Dae, once she is of age. Until then, the funds will enter a trust. We’re thrilled that Dae-Dae has this money as an option to shape her future, despite the tragedy she faced this early in her life.