WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A mile-long lei is in Paris after as many as 200 volunteers spent five days weaving together 250 pounds of ti leaves and orchids. ADVERTISING WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A mile-long lei is in Paris after
WAILUKU, Maui (AP) — A mile-long lei is in Paris after as many as 200 volunteers spent five days weaving together 250 pounds of ti leaves and orchids.
The Nov. 13 terrorist attacks on the city left 130 people dead and prompted Nalu’s South Shore Grill, Hawaiian Paddle Sports and the Cynthia Rose Foundation to launch the lei project.
United Airlines volunteered to ship the lei and paid for a plane ticket.
Organizers plan to take sections of the lei to memorial sites at the Bataclan concert hall, Le Carillon cafe and bar, and Stade de France stadium.
Dozens of individual lei are ready to be delivered to survivors recovering in hospitals.
Five Native Hawaiian youth delegates from Maui are in Paris and will present the lei at the United Nations conference on climate change, which starts Monday. Kailea Frederick of Kula is among the delegates.
“It’s a large, collective send-out of aloha from the Hawaiian Islands to all the people who are going to be there — as a guiding force of protection,” Frederick said.
Cynthia Rose Foundation’s Spreading Joy Campaign delivers lei made from fabric and drinking straws to people who perform random acts of kindness.
President and founder Sherrie Austin says the community turned out in droves to help make the lei.
