Texas flooding: Man builds, donates custom caskets to grieving families

Man builds custom caskets for flood victims

In the time of heartbreak and tragedy, Texans are leaning on one another to heal and process their emotions. The last thing a family member wants to do is bury their loved one --- but one Texan is donating his skills and talent to make their final goodbye memorable. FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera has more.

TEXAS - In this time of heartbreak and tragedy following the deadly July 4th floods, Texans are leaning on one another to heal and process their emotions.

The last thing a family member wants to do is bury their loved one, but one Texan is donating his skills and talent to make their final goodbye memorable.

Soul Shine Industries donates custom caskets

What they're saying:

"What we do with our caskets, no one else does, and how that is, is we bring light into a dark time," says Trey Ganem, owner of Soul Shine Industries.

Soul Shine Industries stepped up by donating custom caskets to support grieving families during this difficult time.

"You can hear a spark in their voice on certain things that they're talking about. And they're like, can we do that? Can we put that on there? And yes, we can," says Ganem.

"What I could say what this does is, with the family is it starts their healing process, you know, this is the first thing they're going to do, but the last thing they are going to do for their loved one and they love that they can make it special," added Ganem.

Since the Fourth of July, Ganem has received hundreds of calls about how they get a casket.

"It's just the outpour of the community has been unreal. And from all over, and I'm getting phone calls from all over the United States just praying with me and talking and letting me know how much they appreciate this," says Ganem.

"I've donated three caskets to other families while we're working on these. We sent one to New Jersey, one to Oklahoma, another one in Texas, but it's, I have never had this many phone calls while I'm at work and even at home in all hours, like literally 2 a.m. and my phone is ringing," he added.

By the numbers:

At least 134 people are dead after devastating flooding in the Texas Hill Country and the number of missing people exceeds 100, with rescue crews continuing to search for those families.

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Dig deeper:

Ganem previously donated 19 caskets to the families affected in the Uvalde school shooting. Since then, he has started a nonprofit called Let A Soul Shine Foundation sending caskets like these across the country.

"It's very heartfelt. And, and, and it it's an honor to be to do this for the families," he said.

Let A Soul Shine Foundation’s mission is to allow families who have suffered a loss to start the healing process by providing them with custom caskets and other funeral-related expenses.

Click here to learn more.