LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cruise Customs, the veteran-owned company, has a unique connection to Hawaii.
Inside the wood shop, Andrew Ethridge is working overtime sanding wooden states of America. The shop is making magnetic key holders of all 50 states. They are cut, sanded and stained by hand, but proceeds from the sale of each is only going to one state, to the people in Hawaii.
“To give to communities while doing what we love to do and given back to the people that you know have given to us,” Ethridge told Spectrum News 1.
For the month of August, Cruise Customs is donating the sales of these wooden magnetic key holders to the relief effort in Hawaii following deadly wildfires that began earlier this month and have killed over 100 people.
Ethridge, a retired Marine, says Hawaii and its people are close to his heart. Ethridge was stationed in Oahu for over seven years.
“So the very first time I stepped off the plane, the first thing I got a smell of was the all the flowers. It’s just the smell of Hawaii is beautiful,” Ethridge said.
Ethridge was active duty for 12 years and a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. While stationed in Oahu, he took up snorkeling and was mesmerized by the beauty of all the Hawaiian Islands.
“Everyone on the Hawaiian Islands is family to each other. They all help each other out. They are there for each other.”
But at this moment Ethridge says Hawaii needs as much help as it can get.
“So I still have a lot of friends that are in Hawaii and I actually reached out to a friend to make sure that they were OK how their family was doing. She’s not on the Island of Maui, she’s on the Island of Oahu but even then, even on a different island, it’s being felt everywhere there on the Hawaiian Islands.”
As Maui recovers, Ethridge’s thoughts are never far from his former home.