Everybody will remember the Uvalde catastrophe for the rest of their lives. Many are still commemorating the 21 lives lost on that terrible violent day two months later.
When a single shooter killed 19 students and two instructors at a high school in Uvalde, Texas, the entire country rallied in solidarity. Individuals from all around the world rallied in support of the Uvalde community, which was directly harmed.
Similarly, a businessman in Eastman, Georgia, put everything on hold to help the victims and the folks of Uvalde. Sean Peacock owns and operates Jass Graphix, where he offers graphic creative services to customers. Custom wooden signs and metals are his expertise.
They manufacture anything from personalized plates to family name signs.
And they have another item that is distinctive to their firm and for which they are well-known. Customers refer to them as ‘Butterfly Benches.’
Peacock created the first bench in 2008 for his mom in memory of his late sister Donna. The front of the seat features a photograph of Donna with a quotation.
After the first successful bench, he began collecting orders for them to create benches for those who had lost a loved one.
April Elrod approached Peacock in May of this year with a request. Elrod had fallen in love with his creations after seeing them on Etsy. She wanted a bench created for her late 10-year-old daughter, Makenna.
As per April, her daughter enjoyed butterflies and was even put to rest in a butterfly-covered gown.
There are usually butterflies about when they go visit her at the cemetery, the mother stated in an interview. They’ve got butterflies everywhere they went, in their automobiles and in their residences.
She started working on a butterfly garden in her yard and felt the bench would be ideal. When she saw the butterfly bench, she felt it would be wonderful for the garden, somewhere to sit and think about Makenna and chat to her, she explained.
She never told Peacock about her daughter’s death and instead asked him to create two seats for Makenna, one for her and one for her father.
He decided to google the family, and as he put it, “Lo and behold, number one on the list, Makenna Lee Elrod, the exact name that mama used.” That was the start of everything for him when he found it.
He found Makenna was one of the 19 pupils killed in the Robb Elementary School assault in Uvalde, Texas.
Peacock shared the bench and the touching tale behind it on social media with his family and friends. Donations began to pour in soon after, with individuals eager to cover the cost of the seats, which sell for $1,800 apiece.
Peacock came up with the concept of creating seats for each individual who died in Uvalde. He created a GoFundMe campaign to raise cash for this purpose, and within 48 hours had reached his target of reaching $20,000.
On the day of Makenna’s burial, he emailed her mom and told her what he had done. Her bench is paid for her lovely kid, and so are 20 more, he assured her.
He delivered notes to the families of all the victims over the next several days. He requested for images and information about each individual to be posted on the bench.
A bench generally takes 6 weeks to construct, but Peacock and his team of volunteers got to work right away.
All of the benches were completed by early August. And the community assembled in Eastman for a prayer session before being put aboard a city-paid U-haul to be driven to Uvalde.
Rev. Tyler Kirkley, the pastor of Peacock’s church, Lakeside Assembly of God, accompanied him. They distributed all of the benches together.
His prayer and desire is that love will have an impact and that when people sit on these benches, they will be aware of a love that can transform the world, Kirkley told the press.
Undoubtedly, having these benches built to honor their loved ones brought smiles to the grieving families’ cheeks.
