Maui restaurant owner Ron Panzo remembers the tears flowing down his face as he saw the news on TV of a massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
He knew he had to do something and with the help of friends, some with ties to Orlando, they weaved a lei of ti leaves and flew the 12 hours to Orlando to present it at local memorials.
"You know the people who are making the lei also benefit. There is a blessing in giving, just as much as in receiving," he explained.
A group of about 25 islanders and people from Hawaii who live in Central Florida carried a lei, weaved into a green rope, to the memorial outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts where they performed an oli, or
Hawaiian chant.
Kumu Lehua Kekahuna later explained that she prayed for blessings "to give us guidance, give us the strength and the knowledge to represent our islands here in Orlando."
She said some of Maui's LGBT community asked her to make the trip on their behalf. "Some of the people who flew here (from Maui) knew some of those who were lost" (in the shooting), she added.
Later, they held hands and sang "Hawaii Aloha" before an appreciative crowd, gathered in the sun to see the flowers, photos and personal remembrances left behind since the shooting.
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