The family of Nathan O’Brien and Alvin and Kathy Liknes are trying to cope with the tragedy and members of the community have stepped up and launched a fundraising campaign to help them deal with expenses.
Greg Head is a neighbor and friend of the O'Brien family and says a number of people have reached out asking how they can help the family.
“First, we’ve had a ton of people wanting to donate in some capacity and secondly, as I sat down with Rod and got to learn more about what their immediate needs are, there’s a lot of expenses that I think the general public doesn’t understand. I didn’t understand it myself until I sat down with the family,” said Head.
Head, with help from Nathan’s father, Rod O’Brien, set up a gofundme page to collect donations to help the family with things like memorial services, moving and storage costs for Alvin and Kathy's home and legal and estate fees.
“The house has to be moved out by the end of the month and moved into storage, well obviously no family member wants to go back to that premise so a lot of expenses that will be immediate that can really help them. So I think it’s a way for people not in Calgary but want to help or people who are in Calgary and can help so it's a conduit to that,” said Head.
Head says neighbours have also banded together to take care of the family, providing support and hot meals for them.
“They’re holding up phenomenally given the circumstances. They’ve had a ton of support obviously family, friends, the soccer community and Nathan played in the hockey community and it’s been overwhelming support that they’ve had.”
Head says the goal is to give the families a chance to deal with their grief without worrying about how they are going to pay for things.
“That’s why this fund really helps because obviously we want to try and take as much of that burden off of them and let them go through this process and not have to worry about other things.”
Head says Victims Services also worked with the community to help families and children in the area to cope with the loss. He says the O’Briens are grateful to everyone involved in the case and that they appreciate the support and outpouring from Calgarians and Canadians.
Click HERE to donate to the gofundme campaign.
People can also make a donation to the 'O'Brien Family Trust Account' at any ATB Financial Branch.
(With files from CTV News)