Group Travels From Hawaii To Pay Tribute To Parkland Shooting Victims
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PARKLAND (CBSMiami) -- It was beautiful, unique, moving and unexpected.
Four thousand and eight hundred miles they came, members of Lei of Aloha World Peace.
Hawaiians, young and old, many dressed in traditional Hawaiian ceremonial garb and they brought with them a 2 1/2 mile long lei woven by volunteers.
The lei represents Hawaii standing strong with Parkland.
One of the group's leaders, Ron Panzo said, "as we were weaving, we put our prayers and our mana, our spirit, into the lei to spread healing in Florida."
The group has produced leis and held ceremonies in Paris, Orlando, Las Vegas and now Parkland.
Volunteers from 26 Hawaiian schools worked on the project financed by a GoFundMe page.
On Sunday, a portion of the lei was draped on the fence around Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
On Monday, the other half of the lei was broken up so that portions could be placed on each of the 17 memorials for the Parkland victims located in Pine Trails Park.
"We feel there is a movement going on here," said Panzo, "We want to support that."
The group will return to Hawaii on Wednesday.
