Question: I’ve been a longtime volunteer for “Sew a Lei for Memorial Day” at Honolulu Hale and am glad that this event will return Friday. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is to be commended for the outstanding job in organizing the project, and I know that, among their many duties, the employees work hard in gathering up plumeria blossoms from city and state grounds around the island for these lei. However, in the past several years (prior to the pandemic), the crops of plumeria were diminished and not up to par; some of the blossoms were brown, wilted, even dying. Yet there were no other flowers to be had. I felt sad knowing they would be placed by dutiful Boy Scouts on gravesites of our military veterans who so proudly served and sacrificed for our country. That’s why I’m asking Oahu residents who have blossoming plumeria trees to please bring their flowers to the various lei-making locations, like Honolulu Hale, on Friday, so volunteers can sew with pride the 38,000 beautiful lei to adorn the graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Answer: Honolulu County’s Department of Parks and Recreation also has put out the call for fresh plumeria blossoms, to be dropped off Friday morning at the following locations, all of which also invite volunteers to sew lei Friday during the specified times.
>> Honolulu Hale, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
>> Kapolei Hale, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
>> Kailua District Park, 9 a.m. to noon
>> Makua Ali‘i Senior Center, 9 a.m. to noon
>> Waianae District Park, 9 a.m. to noon
>> Waiau District Park, 9 a.m. to noon
>> Waipahu District Park, 9 a.m. to noon
Donations of finished fresh lei also are welcome at those sites; finished lei should measure 20 to 22 inches untied and be tied before dropoff.
In addition, DPR said, completed fresh-flower lei, preferably plumeria, can be dropped off Friday at the following locations:
>> Any Honolulu Fire Department fire station from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
>> Federal fire stations at 650 Center Drive, Pearl Harbor, Ford Island, Marine Corps Base Hawaii and Schofield Barracks from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
>> Frank Fasi Municipal Building from 8 a.m. to noon
>> Ala Wai Community Park, Makiki District Park and Waialua District Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Lastly, the department says completed lei will be accepted Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as Punchbowl, or by its Hawaiian name, Puowaina.
On Sunday, “the Scouts of Hawaii will place the lei from the ‘Sew a Lei for Memorial Day’ effort and an American flag on every grave within Puowaina,” DPR said in a news release.
On Monday, the public is welcome at the Mayor’s Memorial Day Ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The event is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. For more information, see bit.ly/MayorsMemorialDay.
Q: I was surprised to see what seemed to be the intentional release of more than a dozen party-size helium balloons by a group at a beach park. I don’t know what the meaning was, but it wasn’t accidental. Didn’t the state pass a law against this?
A: Yes, but it doesn’t take effect until 2023. The bill passed by the Legislature last year and signed into law by Gov. David Ige as Act 141 (808ne.ws/Act141) prohibits the intentional release of balloons inflated with lighter-than-air gases, with some exceptions. It takes effect Jan. 1. Apart from any law, it’s well documented that releasing balloons like this amounts to harmful littering; marine life may ingest the balloons or become entangled in their strings, for one example, and the electric company continuously warns that metallic balloons cause power outages and worse if they drift into power lines.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
