A trio of Oxford brothers are doing what they can to honor a deceased student’s memory and help his grieving family by making and selling a very unique fashion accessory.
Over the last week, Zack, Brendin and Joe Floyd have been hard at work producing paracord bracelets that memorialize Shane Hrischuk, an Oxford Middle School eighth-grader who committed suicide last week.
The brothers are selling them for $4 each through their Facebook page ‘Floyd’s Paracord Bracelets.?
Proceeds will be donated to the Hrischuk family to help cover Shane’s funeral expenses.
‘I just thought it would be a nice thing to do for his family,? said Brendin, an OMS seventh-grader, who came up with the idea. ‘I knew Shane. We played football and I saw him all the time around school. Everyone liked him. He was pretty nice.?
‘It’s just really sad,? said Joe, who’s a fifth-grader at Clear Lake Elementary.
The bracelets are green, which was Shane’s favorite color, with a yellow stripe signifying suicide prevention awareness, according to Joe.
As of Monday, the Floyds had received an impressive 370 orders for Shane memorial bracelets.
‘I actually didn’t expect this,? said Zack, a junior at OHS. ‘We were expecting a few people to respond, not this many.?
‘We posted it on Facebook and it just took off,? Brendin said. ‘I thought we were going to make maybe $100.?
The Floyd brothers went straight to work and churned out just over 200 bracelets by Monday.
‘I am so unbelievably proud of them,? said their mother Christine Floyd. ‘They gave up their plans over the weekend. They never hesitated. They went full force ? all of them.?
On Monday night, the brothers had Boy Scouts from Oxford Troop 108 help them fill the rest of the orders.
Zack and Brendin are both members of Troop 108. Joe will become one this weekend as he graduates from Webelos.
It takes the Floyds an average of 3-5 minutes to make one bracelet. The standard bracelet is 7 1/2 inches long and contains about 6 1/2 feet of paracord.
Paracord, or parachute rope, is a lightweight nylon rope originally used in the suspension lines of U.S. parachutes during World War II. It is now used as a general purpose utility cord in both military and civilian life.
‘We have completely bought out (all the paracord at) Joe’s Army Navy (surplus store) in Waterford,? Christine noted. ‘They’ve been great, too. They gave us discounts three times.?
The Floyds started making paracord bracelets as a family business earlier this year.
Joe made them for an economics fair at Clear Lake Elementary and they were so popular, he decided to keep producing and selling them with his brothers.
These days their company makes colored bracelets celebrating school spirit and sports teams along with honoring heroes such as police, firefighters and U.S. troops.
Christine wished to thank the Oxford Big Boy restaurant for serving as a central location for people to pick up their memorial bracelets. ‘They have been so great,? she said.
To learn more about their business or purchase a memorial bracelet, visit ‘Floyd’s Paracord Bracelets? on Facebook.