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A daylong lei collection drive held Friday at all Oahu fire stations and 10 city parks was expected to add up to a substantial contribution toward the 38,000 lei needed for Memorial Day weekend at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Decorating veterans’ graves at Punchbowl with lei and an American flag is a tradition that dates back more than six decades.
The city will continue accepting lei Saturday at Punchbowl. All lei must be made of fresh flowers or ti leaves and must measure 20 to 24 inches before tying.
In some recent years, there’s been a shortage of lei donations and the national cemetery has been able to fill the need only with a last-minute push. Last year, however, donations went so well at Punchbowl that it was able to donate 3,000 lei to the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe.
The city doesn’t anticipate a shortage this year, according to Jon Hennington, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.
Hennington said any leftover lei would be placed in the cemetery’s chapel or taken to the state veterans cemetery, where Girl Scouts are organizing lei-draping.
Ailyn Lum, service unit manager for the Girl Scouts’ Kaneohe Troop, said Friday that the scouts aimed to collect some 7,000 lei, but was about 2,000 short.
On Sunday, an estimated 1,500 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts are expected to walk through Punchbowl, cleaning gravestones and placing lei and flags at gravesites in preparation for Memorial Day.
Among those in uniform will be more than 60 scouts from Pack 42, which has participated in the Aloha Council’s annual "Good Turn Day" for more than 20 years.
Murphy’s Bar and Grill is picking up the tab for Pack 42’s order for 400 purple orchid lei from Hawaiian Lei Co. On Thursday, 26 Hawaiian Lei employees were turning out peak-season orders, many of which were for graduation celebrations.
"We got a lot of orders," owner Carlos Campos said.
Regarding the Scouts’ efforts, Campos, who served in the Marine Corps from 1989 to 1993, said he’s glad to see the tradition continuing.
"I think it’s important for our children to understand the legacy of our country and of our fallen heroes," Campos said. "These kids are learning that these people sacrificed for their country."
Aloha Council Scouts on Kauai and Hawaii island on Saturday will prep gravestones at Hanapepe Kauai Veterans Cemetery and East Hawai‘i Veterans Cemetery No. 1, respectively.
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