LIHUE — When tragedy occurs, sometimes the only comfort is in a hug.
“When you give a person a hug or even a smile, just a little gesture like that, it will encourage them,” said Cyrila Pycha, a volunteer creating the Lei of Aloha to present to families, students and teachers impacted by the recent mass shooting at a Florida high school.
“The people in Florida all need a hug,” she said. “People are blown away just by our presence and taking time away from our families and our work with this gesture of creating a lei.”
Lei of Aloha hopes to represent the entire state of Hawaii by creating lei on each island and sending four teachers and students to present it to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Janique Marcil, a 14-year-old student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, wanted to help take part weaving an 1/8-mile lei on Kauai at Frear Center for Hawaiian Culture and the Arts on Wednesday.
“I looked at the photos of all the people who got their lives taken away, and I didn’t realize how young they were,” Marcil said. “Most of them were around my age, and I realized how lucky I am.”
While making the ti leaf lei, she put her own energy into it, so they could feel it when receiving the token of support this weekend.
“I want them to know that even though we are far away from Florida, they still have our support and love,” Marcil said. “If we can’t be over there, I still want them to know that we support them and want love. We are praying for all of them.”
Nearly a hundred people volunteered on Kauai to create the lei being woven at Island School with the help of organizer Kumu Sabra Kauka.
“We want the people of that community to know that we feel for them, that we are thinking of them and wishing them healing,” Kauka said. “No child should feel unsafe anywhere, particularly not in school or at home.”
There were even visiting families from Canada, Massachusetts and California who volunteered to weave a portion of the lei on Kauai. One family visiting from Pasadena, California, was happy just to be a part of the weaving. Their two sons helped for several hours after reading an article in the newspaper while on vacation.
Other volunteers from North California, Eli Smith and his wife Charlotte Turner, who recently retired and moved to Kauai last October, came to the lei weaving to show support for those impacted by the shooting.
“We have found the love and the joy of this island to be contagious,” Smith said. “When we read more about the meaning of making the lei with the green ti plant being a token of love, healing and good luck, we just had to go down and see if they would take our help.”
The couple was honored to learn from the Island School students, and Smith took great pride ironing and cutting the leaves for weaving.
“Even if we are just newcomers to the island, we did not want that token to fail,” Smith said. “There is enough hatred and anger in this world. We need to let them know that there are still many of us who want to give these young people love, support and an opportunity to make a mark in this world that’s positive.”
Island School teacher Philip Steinbacher will be one of the four teachers traveling from Hawaii with a student to present the Lei of Aloha to the school this weekend.
Funding for travel and accommodations is still needed; donations can be made online at www.gofundme/floridalei.
