An Etsy shop owner has gifted each Robb Elementary victim with a memorial bench.
Sean Peacock made his first memorial bench in 2008 after his sister passed away. Now, the artist and Etsy shop owner who resides in Eastman, Georgia, sells them and other memorial products through his business, Jass Graphix. When April Elrod, mother of Robb Elementary shooting victum Makenna Lee Elrod, contacted him, he knew he had to do something special.
Peacock initially didn’t know that April was related to a victim in Uvalde, until he did some internet sleuthing and connected the names. “Lo and behold, number one on the list, Makenna Lee Elrod, the same name that that momma used,” he tells Good Morning America. “When I discovered that, that was the beginning of it all.”
Normally, the memorial benches sell for $1,800, but April inquired if they could be discounted if she bought more than one. Realizing the opportunity, Peacock shared about the order on his own Facebook page and donations quickly poured in. But he didn’t stop there.
To provide benches to all the victims families, Peacock started a Go Fund Me account to cover the costs of 21 orders. “I think every child there deserves to be remembered and we as a community can shine a light on a dark time in the lives of many, not only there, but across our country. We have to let the good flow so the evil can go,” he says on the page.
It took less than two days to fully fund the $20,000 goal and then the construction began. Normally, each bench takes six weeks to make since they are crafted by hand but all 21 were done in that same time frame.
To make each bench personal, Peacock tells GMA that he reached out to each family member to learn about their lives. The result is each memorial bearing a photo in the center of butterfly wings and inscription from the families. They will also receive an outdoor memorial sign that matches the same one the city of Uvalde will use in a community memorial.
“My prayer, my hope is that love will make a difference, and when they sit on these benches, they’ll be reminded of a love that can change the world,” says Peacock’s pastor, Rev. Tyler Kirkley, who personally helped deliver the benches to the families this past weekend. “If you stick a light in a very dark place, it shines its brightest. That’s what we want to do and that’s what we want the world to see.”
