Nearly a week after the deadly shooting at the school in Uvalde, Texas, the victims killed in the massacre are being buried.
Nineteen of those killed during the robbery at Robb Elementary School – 18 children and a teacher – will be buried in custom chests made by Trey Ganem of SoulShine Industries, based in Edna, Texas.
Ganem says the Texas Funeral Directors Association contacted him to make the custom coffins on the day of the shooting.
Young victims of the Texas massacre were buried when funerals begin
He told CNN that he and his 25-year-old son worked tirelessly to assemble, design and deliver all the coffins to the funeral home.
The chests were bought through a Georgia company that worked for 20 hours straight to produce them, Ganem said.
They arrived in Texas early Friday; and Ganem said he finished all 19 chests during Memorial Day weekend in the United States, working almost three days in a row and sleeping about six hours.
Nineteen of those killed during the robbery at Robb Elementary School – 18 children and a teacher – will be buried in custom chests made by Trey Ganem of SoulShine Industries, based in Edna, Texas. (SoulShine Industries)
Ganem said he met with relatives of the victims to select custom designs and themes for each casket, ranging from softball to TikTok and Spiderman.
SOLIS Designs ’Marisol Gonzalez and The Graphix House’s Justin Watts helped with graphics and stickers for each casket, Ganem said.
Ganem said he met with relatives of the victims to select custom designs and themes for each casket, ranging from softball to TikTok and Spiderman. (SoulShine Industries)
“We don’t just put a vinyl wrapper on top. We actually paint each one to size. We completely disassemble the ark, and we paint the hardware, we paint the bars,” Ganem told CNN.
“The class and the passion we put into these are none.”
Each box costs between $ 3,400 and $ 3,800, Ganem said.
Although he has received some donations, Ganem said his company has paid for almost everything.
“I didn’t even think twice when I was asked to do it,” he added, “and God always takes care of us.”
Ganem said he first felt inspired to make custom chests after the death of a friend and started his business about 11 years ago.
He said he had since made chests for the victims of the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs and Las Vegas, for the murdered U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen and singers Christina Grimmie and Percy Sledge.