The owner of a custom casket company has donated caskets to the 19 victims of the Uvalde school shooting. After hearing the tragic news, Trey Ganem immediately offered free assistance to all of the victims’ families.
Ganem, the owner of SoulShine Industries, has been working around the clock designing. He told Fox46 that he asked for specific details of the victims to make the caskets as close to their likeness as possible.
Meet the TX man who’s making customized caskets for each of the 19 young victims and two teachers from the school shooting in #Uvalde. Trey Ganem visited with the families last week so each casket is personalized to include each child’s interests.
📷: SoulShine Industries pic.twitter.com/eeoOZHcrfF
— John-Carlos Estrada (@Mr_JCE) May 31, 2022
“They tell me about their loved one, and they tell me special specific things,” Ganem said. “and they light up when they’re talking to me. We’re creating the last thing that the parents can ever do for their child. And we’re making it with passion and purpose. We put all of our heart and soul into this thing.”
In just three days, Ganem and his team built 19 caskets with the help of volunteers, family, and friends. And with the help of his friend Bubba Hoffman, Ganem hired drivers to deliver the caskets from Georgia to Texas within 24 hours.
“God put us all in our same path. And it’s just been a blessing,” Ganem said. “There’s no way we could have done 19 caskets in three days without the help that we had.”
According to Ganem, his team isn’t making these caskets to display their work but to help the families in need. He treats everyone as if they were his own family, putting the same amount of effort into each casket.
The 19 custom coffins created by Trey Ganem for the young Uvalde massacre victims. Free of charge.
Bless this man. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Zzq3afVHEX
— Christopher 🇺🇸 Is Pro-Choice (@cwebbonline) June 1, 2022
“It’s a blessing to be able to do what we do,” Ganem said. “The main thing I want to tell people is we just don’t paint caskets here. We become part of the family. We tell their story.”
BuzzFeed News reports Ganem, 50, was contacted by the Texas Funeral Directors Association to make the custom caskets on the day of the shooting.
“I think there were 17 at the time that he knew of,” Ganem said. “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.”
SoulShine Industries’ caskets usually cost between $3,400 and $3,800 to make, but Ganem has no plans of charging the families.
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“This is something no family should ever have to deal with,” Ganem said. “My love and emotions are already there.”
