Girl Scouts surprised by few flowers for Lei of Aloha event

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Local Girl Scouts honored fallen members of the armed forces by crafting lei alongside community members every year during the Girl Scouts of Hawaii’s annual Lei of Aloha event. But something was different on Saturday.

“It has been rough this year,” said Girl Scout Experience Coordinator Maykely Rain. “We called places who gave us past donations, but with graduation happening and middle school and high school it’s been rough to get these flowers.”

Girl Scouts and parents said last year was packed at Windward Mall for the event, but this year tables were empty and the few flowers that were provided were gone quickly.

“I expected there to be tables filled with people and flowers and there wasn’t anybody here,” said Girl Scout mom Jannelle Villalobos.

The Girl Scouts are encouraged to bring their own flowers and they rely on donations too.

“It’s a little disheartening because we’re a military family and this is very dear to our group, and I feel like there would have been more donations for what the cause is,” Villalobos said.

“There are not enough donations so we can’t do more flower lei,” said Girl Scout Taylor Nekota.

But because Girl Scouts are resourceful, the girls started using yarn and ribbon to make lei.

“It doesn’t look right it doesn’t look special,” Nekota said.

“[The yarn is cute I just don’t know how to make them very well,” Nekota added.

She recently lost her grandfather who was a veteran.

“I feel like it won’t look as special and it’s not as special with flowers and its yarn instead,” she added.

For some girls, Saturday seemed excruciating from what they were expecting to be doing.

But then, boxes and boxes of flowers started coming in.

“Now we’re really excited because thanks to the City and all of our wonderful partners, we have lei flowers,” Rain said.

The city said they have received a lot of flowers this year. In fact, they had 47,000 lei ready to go as of Saturday morning for Memorial Day.

Although these flowers were a few hours late, at the end of the day, for these Girl Scouts, it’s all about honoring the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice.

“It makes you feel good and you feel like it’s kind for the people who fought,” said Girl Scout Olive Garcia. “Because it honors the people who fought for freedom.”

The scouts will also place American flags alongside the finished lei on headstones at the Hawaii State Veteran’s Cemetery in Kaneohe.

Lei of Aloha originated in 2013 as a Gold Award Project initiated by former Girl Scout Marissa Lum from Troop 1018.

Lum’s project expanded upon initiatives previously established within her troop, evolving into an island-wide community endeavor.

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Now commemorating its 11th year, Lei of Aloha has consistently provided impactful opportunities for community members to reflect upon and pay tribute to our fallen heroes.