HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi followed a long tradition and did their part to honor the sacrifice of our country’s heroes by weaving remembrance into lei this Memorial Day weekend.
The Girl Scouts got to work at Windward Mall during the 12th annual Lei of Aloha, a community service project led by the Girl Scouts. The event has since become a powerful Memorial Day tradition.
Families, visitors and Girl Scouts from across the Pacific joined in to honor the fallen.
“We were on vacation, but [my daughter] loves Girl Scouts so much we decided to come down and participate in the lei making and tomorrow’s event to lei them on the memorial,” said volunteer visitor Amy Freeman, who was with her daughter Kaylee.
Troop 540 from Anchorage, Alaska made it a point to get over to the islands to participate in the event.
“Our Girl Scout troop has been saving up for this trip for years,” said Molly Webb, a Girl Scout Troop 540 leader. “We have a pretty big Alaska Native culture, and we wanted to learn about other cultures.”
The annual Lei of Aloha began when a Girl Scout named Marissa Lum of Troop 1018 turned her Gold Award Project into something bigger — an annual celebration of rememberance.
“We do this as part of giving back with Girl Scouts, we learn a lot about courage, confidence and character, making the world a better place,” said Girl Scouts of Hawaiʻi Director of Programs Charelle Silva. “This is part of us making the world a better place and honoring our past.”
The biggest takeaway for scouts like Malia Brady of Troop 148 is learning about how to respect the world around you, while respecting the people who came before you.
“This is important because as Girl Scouts, we should be giving back to the community and it’s a little more important, here respect is really important,” Brady said. “And we have to make sure we’re respectful to the people that gave their lives for us.”