A Texas artist is making a beautiful contribution to the families of the Uvalde mass shooting victims.
Trey Ganem is the owner of custom casket company SoulShine Industries. In an effort to help the families of the elementary school victims heal, he announced he is offering his services, which typically cost upward of $3,400, for free.
"I'm on my way to help families in this tragic time," the 50-year-old artist wrote on Facebook. "This is something no family should ever have to deal with. My love and emotions are already there."
The artist's choice to make such a beautiful contribution came after someone at the Texas Funeral Directors Association asked for his support. Support like that has to be so impactful in a situation like this. The Robb Elementary School massacre, which left 21 dead — 19 of whom were children — was utterly devastating. It will be a long time before the community begins to heal.
"I think there were 17 at the time that he knew of, and [he] wanted to know if I would be able to help out and make sure that all these kids have, you know, some personalization," he told BuzzFeed of the conversation he had with the individual from the Texas Funeral Directors Association.
Given that children typically don't die young en masse, Ganem didn't have close to enough child-sized caskets. He had to order more from a manufacturer in Griffin, Georgia, which is about 900 miles away. The manufacturer worked for 20 hours straight so that the delivery could arrive on time. Then a trucking company drove for over 24 hours to pick up the caskets and deliver them to Ganem.
So many people have been moved to help by the horror of the shooting. Ganem typically works only with his son, but he says many people have volunteered their time. He has about a dozen people helping out who volunteered to sand, paint, and apply vinyl to the children's caskets.
The mother of one of the victims is Sandra Torres. Ganem worked with her to come up with the design on the casket of her daughter, Eliahna Torres. The design features llamas, the TikTok logo, and neon yellow slime — all things she loved deeply.
"She would tell me that she needed glue for school because she had a big ole project to do, and the glue would be to make slime," she said. "She drove us crazy with the TikTok."
