Babbaljit Brar passed away on April 20. His family and friends have started a Go Fund Me page to raise money for the community in his memory. (Photo: submitted by Sanjewan Brar)

Sophie Gray

Local Journalism Initiative

An Osoyoos family has raised over $24,000 for mental health and scholarships for Osoyoos and Oliver secondary students in memory of their son and brother, Babbaljit Brar.

Babbaljit Brar, 26, passed away on April 20. His family want to keep the details of his passing private, but his brother said it was related to struggles with mental health. 

Sanjewan Brar said his family and friends decided to start the Go Fund Me campaign after Babbaljit’s passing to raise awareness for mental health. He said he and his brother used to talk about their mental health on occasion, but it always seemed manageable. 

“You know we talked about it here and there,” said Brar. “Leading up to it, everyone was caught off guard so we want to make sure that we help out in the awareness that it can happen to anybody.”

The family will be donating part of the money raised to the Desert Sun Counselling Centre, while the rest of the money will go towards a scholarship for secondary students from the Oliver and Osoyoos high schools who are pursuing electrical or trades programs. 

Brar said he hopes the fundraiser will help raise awareness for how to talk about mental health, especially among friends. He hopes that people will talk about mental health at a deeper level because often, like with his brother, people can be suffering in silence.

“When you hang out with your friends, try to force those more serious conversations sometimes,” said Brar. “Even if someone just says all good, once and a while you should push a little bit further, I think, to really see how someone’s doing.”

Babbaljit’s friends and family also hope to use the money for a memorial bench or gazebo at his favourite beach near their family home. 

“If someone called me, they’d go oh, we’ll go to Babb’s beach. That’s what we called it there so we’d love to put something up there to honour it in his name, and that would mean a lot to all of his friends,” said Brar. 

The family plans on continuing their charity work in the future, helping to build support networks and awareness for mental health around the Okanagan in Babbaljit Brar’s memory.