Texas Artist Made Custom Caskets for Uvalde Shooting Victims

Services for some of the 19 students and two teachers killed in last week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, took place on Monday, with 19 of the victims being buried in custom coffins made by casket-maker Trey Ganem.

Ganem, the owner of custom casket company SoulShine Industries, based in Edna, Texas, has donated his services free of charge to families of the Uvalde mass shooting victims.  “I didn’t even think twice when I was asked to do it,” Ganem said per CNN, adding, “and God always takes care of us.”

BuzzFeed News reports Ganem 50, was contacted by the Texas Funeral Directors Association to make the custom caskets on the day of the shooting, and has since made coffins for 19 of the victims. SoulShine Industries’ caskets usually cost between $3,400 and $3,800 to make, but Ganem has no plans of charging the families.

“This is something no family should ever have to deal with,” Ganem told BuzzFeed. “My love and emotions are already there.”

“It has been an extremely emotional roller coaster for me,” Ganem added. “I don’t even know if you can hear my voice. I haven’t hollered at all, but I’m losing my voice, for whatever reason.”

Ganem’s son, Billy, expressed SoulShine’s desire to help make the victims’ family’s current situation “a little easier.”

“We’re here to try to make a hard time a little easier,” Ganem, who is 25 years old, said. “There’s nothing we can really ever do to make it easier, but that’s our goal: to help the families … start their grieving and their healing and just try to make something special for them.”

Funeral masses at Sacred Heart Catholic Church started Tuesday, while the local funeral home, Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary, will reportedly holding funerals through June 13.