When Girl Scout Marissa Lum decided to do her Gold Award project to produce lei for decorating the Memorial Day graves at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, she had no idea the effort would blossom so.
But that’s what happened in just one year. On Sunday nearly 200 Girl Scouts from all over the island, plus their parents, braved rainy weather and the potential for thunder and lightning to join Lum in helping to brighten the nearly 9,000 graves at the Kaneohe cemetery with lei and miniature American flags.
"I just think it’s really great," said Coast Guard Rear Adm. Cari Thomas, a former Girl Scout herself, who spoke at Sunday’s ceremony kicking off the grave decorating. "Here these girls are taking the time to remember the veterans. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give back to their community."
The Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday at the Kaneohe cemetery. Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Maj. Gen. Darryll Wong, state adjutant general, will take part.
On Saturday dozens of Girl Scouts were busy attending Lum’s second annual Lei of Aloha lei-making event at Windward Mall. While last year’s Lei of Aloha event produced 1,100 lei for the cemetery, this year’s event generated more than 2,000 multicolored flowered garlands.
In addition, the Boy Scouts, who have been decorating the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on Memorial Day for years, were able to donate another 3,000 lei considered excess.
Officials report that some 41,000 lei were donated this year to the event at Punchbowl, where the Mayor’s Memorial Day Service will take place at 8:30 a.m. Monday and the 16th annual Roll Call of Honor in Remembrance Ceremony will take place at 10 a.m.
The graves at the Kaneohe veterans cemetery have been decorated with lei by Girl Scouts in the past, but the effort has never been as strong or consistent as the Punchbowl project.
Lum’s Kaneohe Troop 1018 had been doing a small lei-making event the previous couple of years, but the Castle High School junior saw much more potential.
"I wanted to make it bigger for the community and get the community involved," she said.
In April, Lum earned her Gold Award, the highest achievement within the Girl Scouts. What’s more, the Girl Scouts created a special patch for participation in her Lei of Aloha project.
"You’re changing the world," Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i CEO Gail Mukaihata Hannemann told Lum on Sunday. "What is she going to be like as an adult?"
After leading her troop through the early afternoon drizzle Sunday, leader Amy Bednarczyk of Troop 837 of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam said her girls felt good about what they were doing.
"It’s really nice when you get to give back to your country," chimed in Scout Arwyn St. John.
Fellow troop member Azrah Griggs added, "It’s fun getting to work with flowers and leis."
Nearby, Pamela Dunn was leading five kindergartners, all members of Kaneohe Daisy Troop 784. Dunn said she talked to her young charges about the significance of what they were doing.
"We were trying to be somber," she said, "but when you’re in kindergarten you can’t help but giggle a bit."
