Ganem says the Texas Funeral Directors Association contacted him to make the custom coffins on the day of the shooting. He told CNN on Monday 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 purchased through a Georgia company that worked for 20 hours straight to produce them, Ganem says. They arrived in Texas in the early hours of Friday morning; Ganem says he finished all 19 chests over the holiday weekend, working almost three days in a row and sleeping about six hours.
Ganem says he met with relatives of the victims to select custom designs and themes for each casket, ranging from softball to Tik Tok and Spiderman. SOLIS Designs’ Marisol Gonzalez and The Graphix House’s Justin Watts helped with graphics and stickers for each box, says Ganem.
“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 to make, says Ganem.
Although he has received some donations, Ganem says his company has paid for almost everything. “I didn’t even think twice when I was asked to do it,” he adds, “and God always takes care of us.”
Ganem says he first felt inspired to make custom chests after the death of a friend and started his business about 11 years ago.
He says he has since made coffers 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.
Services for two victims of the Ubalde school shooting, Amerie Jo Garza and 10-year-old Maite RodrÃguez, took place Monday at local funeral homes.