Almost two years have passed since Elijah Canlas and his family lost his younger brother JM but they are now turning the tragedy into something that can help better the lives of other teens through their new non-profit organization called the KULIT (Kalinga, Unawa at Linang sa Isip at Taglay) Foundation. They are holding the JM Canlas Badminton Cup, a fundraising tournament from March 29 to 30 at the Don Antonio Sports Center (DASC Building), Quezon City.

READ: Elijah Canlas remembers younger brother JM: ‘Happy birthday in heaven’

In a recent interview with PUSH Bets, Elijah shared how things are going with the event. “I’m okay, just busy organizing, finalizing everything for this fundraising na gagawin namin for this badminton cup. Malapit lapit na siya. I’m also preparing for more films and a release of a new song. So it’s just a lot of preparing. It’s a two-day event and on the two days itself, meron din kaming mga seminar about mental health, not just badminton or just fun sports but also may education na mangyayari. That’s a first step. But other than that, abangan niyo na lang yung mga programs na gagawin namin. We have really big plans and madaming mga ideas from even the doctors,” he told PUSH ABS-CBN

Elijah said the fundraising event was something he and his family thought of to best honor the memory of his brother, who passed away at the age of 17.

“Even prior to his tragic passing, yung family namin wanted to form a charity to help other people especially with mental health because I personally struggled with mental health in my teens. Tapos when he passed away, we were like trying to find a way to cope din. And I think we were raised din to think of ways to help other people all the time. Now, more than ever, since na-experience namin yung ganung tragedy, we wanted to cope in a way na hindi kami nag-su-sulk sa bahay, hindi kami nagmumukmok or whatever,” he explained. 

Through the KULIT foundation and its events, Elijah and his family hope to advocate for better mental health awareness in the country.

“Gusto namin pro-active, gusto namin madami kaming matulungan like teens who are struggling with their mental health, parents who don’t really understand what mental health is. We formed this organization, the KULIT foundation, it’s a non-profit organization that deals a lot with teens and adolescents and their mental health issues. We hold seminars, therapies, workshops, and just educating people in general with the help of mental health professionals. And itong badminton cup is a way of raising funds to do those programs,” he added. 

READ: Elijah Canlas' younger brother JM dies at 17

Having just recently attended the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany where his film Sunshine was competing, Elijah gave credit to his family for their advocacy.

“Actually mas hands on yung family ko. Since I’ve been busy rin with projects and shoots which really take a lot of the days, pero I like to think that it’s a family activity talaga. I won’t take credit for anything of course pero especially after the tragic thing that happened to my family, mas maraming lumalapit, mas maraming nag-o-open up. People that I didn’t even expect to open up about their mental health struggles. That was weird kasi hindi naman ako sanay na ganun. But I guess iniisip nila na mas nakakaintindi kami because nga of our experience. So we tale it with responsibility and we know doctors, we know websites, we know hotlines that could help them. So we just show them,” he admitted.