The parents of a little boy who was murdered in 2014 are honouring his memory and giving back to the community by building a playground in his name in Mayland Heights.

Nathan O’Brien, 5, and his grandparents Alvin and Kathy Liknes disappeared from the couple’s Parkhill home in June of 2014 and their bodies were never recovered.

Douglas Garland was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder in their deaths and sentenced earlier this year to 75 years in prison.

It has been three years since Nathan’s death and his parents, Rod and Jennifer O’Brien, say they are still devastated by their loss.

"Summer is really hard because the memories of Nathan attending his last day of kindergarten and the days leading up to losing him replay in my head,” said Jennifer in a release.

The family started the Nathan O’Brien Children’s Foundation a few months after the little boy disappeared and also support the EvenStart program, which assists children from backgrounds of poverty, neglect, abuse and trauma.

The foundation has been working to raise money to build Nathan’s Playground in the city’s northeast and last Christmas a party held by friends raised $17,000.

The funds were matched by the foundation and the Spruce Meadows Leg Up Foundation also kicked in $10,000 to bring the total to $54,000.

The money was used to purchase the playground and it has been installed at the new EvenStart Child Development Centre in Mayland Heights.

“We are so excited to give kids a cool new playground,” said Jennifer. “The memory of Nathan swinging on monkey bars and conquering climbing structures lives on in our hearts.”

“Anybody with children knows what it’s like in the dead of winter, when it’s cold and they’ve been inside for two days so this is an amazing opportunity for them as well as it can be used for therapy services that they don’t even recognize. So whether it’s climbing or using hand-over-hand or foot-over-foot to move their way up, they’re learning those skills all the way through and plus it’s a great socialization tool for them because they’re able to socialize with other kids,” said Brianna Parkhill with Director of EvenStart.

“His legacy is not just about our foundation but it’s about all the people that have helped us along the way over the last three years and the organizations and our company and other foundations that have got on board with us and this is what we’re seeing now is all the good news and hard work of people is something substantial to look at so,” said Rod. “We were real excited to help out in any way that we can in Nathan’s name so there was a lot people that also contributed to the playground and we’re just excited to see if come to fruition here.”

The project has both indoor and outdoor spaces  and includes a clubhouse and garden.

“Outside we have planter boxes that we’re going to be using as Nathan’s Garden in which the children are going to be working with their teachers to plant vegetables and fruit as well as lots of different herbs that we’re going to have them use in our kitchen for the meals that we supply to the kids. We really want them to be a part of getting in there and growing their own food, knowing what’s good, what they need to have, the number of vegetables you’re supposed to eat in a day,” said Parkhill.

On Friday, Nathan’s family and friends gathered at the centre to hang the “Nathan’s Playground” banner and launch the project.

“Kids will say, who’s Nathan, what’s that say and then it just keeps his spirit alive and that’s really what our foundation is, it’s keeping his spirit alive,” said Jennifer.

“It’s a cool way to remember him just because it’s something that he’d have loved to play in and that kids can play in and have fun as well,” said Nathan’s brother Luke.

The playground will officially open on September 6 and EvenStart is hosting a public BBQ to celebrate the event.

For more information on the Nathan O’Brien Children’s Foundation, click HERE.