Donate in memory of Melissa Brown

Our beloved Melissa Dawn Brown recently passed on November 3, 2023. Melissa was a phenomenal sister, mother, friend, aunty, and leader who touched the lives of those around her. She always believed in our youth and next generations, and wanted only the best for her three sons. She leaves behind her precious sons Kimoni Brown, Amir brown and Malik Brown, her adored sisters Chemutai Bannatyne and Chelsea Bannatyne and brothers Calvin Brown, Errol Brown, Andrew Brown and Kibet Siele as well her most beloved mother Elsie Bannatyne & father Alan Brown as well as her step-father Andrew Siele, and life long partner Christopher Jack.

Melissa dedicated her life to her sons, instilled the values of honour, love and loyalty with the hopes that they would carry on her legacy and telling the experiences of urban youth that are struggling to make sense of their lived realities. Please we wish that our privacy be respected at this time but we would invite you all take time to cherish your memories with our Melissa, we acknowledge that she connected and touched many lives in our community and wider Winnipeg! We are extremely devastated by this sudden and untimely death, it has caught us all off guard and we are grieving along side you all and we would appreciate the privacy to do so. At this time we would like to tell all our loved ones to remember Melissa for all the good work she has done, for servicing and believing that we can all survive our adversities we face in our individual lives. Melissa loved to cook and feed her loved ones, that was her love language and we hope you all can reminisce as we will! Melissa was fortunate to serve many youth and Indigenous organizations in Winnipeg that shared in her vision to empower and build the capacity of Indigenous-Urban youth. Melissa worked tiressly to build her catering company (Brownees Urban Bistro) and urban apparel brands (Keep’n it Indigenous and Keep’n it Kultured) it would mean the world to us for your continued support and we would most appreciate if you could support our wishes to honour her untimely passing with a funeral, celebration of life and in our caring for her three sons.

We are all devastated by Melissa’s loss and were not prepared for the high cost of a funeral service. We want to give Melissa the memorial she deserves, to honor her memory and say our last goodbyes.

We are currently asking for donations to help cover the cost of Melissa’s funeral. We need to raise 40,000 in order to be able to afford the funeral service, lawyer fees & to support her sons.

Here is a link to the fundraiser for Melissa’s GoFundMe __________ Please consider donating, as any amount will truly help our family during this difficult time.

Thank you so much and have a blessed day. We appreciate all your love and prayers during this time.

Yours,

Bannatyne-Brown Family