NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Covenant Presbyterian Church had special guests Easter weekend who traveled thousands of miles from Hawaii to give the grieving community a sacred, mile-long, Lei of Aloha.
Since 2015, the group Lei of Aloha for World Peace has traveled all over the world to places where tragedy struck, just like the Covenant School, to offer a special lei filled with love and prayer.
It took about 3 days for hundreds of volunteers from Maui and Oahu to make a mile-long ti leaf lei.
The leaves were harvested from sacred places in Hawaii and were prayed over in a special ceremony before being sent to Nashville.
12 volunteers from the group came Saturday thinking they would simply add it to the memorial at the school gates, but the Covenant Church's elders got word that they were on their way, and invited the congregation and the school's students and staff to join what became a special celebration with up to 500 people attending. The lei was presented with native Hawaiian chants, songs, and hula dancing.
Ron Panzo, a lead organizer of the group, said this is Hawaii's way to send a hug to Nashville.
"I think there's definitely a deep appreciation when another community comes so far away, and I think people are touched and they need that during this time. That message that we are one. Message of solidarity. That's the main mission of our lei and I think that was achieved today," said Panzo.
The group has traveled as far as Paris to give a lei following the 2015 terrorist attacks, mosque shooting in New Zealand, as well as many of the mass shootings that have happened over the years in the states including Uvalde, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida.
Panzo said it is hard to keep seeing tragedies happen, but this is their way of doing something. They knew they had to show up for the Covenant School too.
"It's not like we can do it for every tragedy, but when it comes to the kids, when it comes to our children being involved, that's when we feel like we really need to get involved. And that's why we're here," said Panzo. "With the children being involved it makes it even a sadder tragedy. No community should be losing children, going to school and not coming home."
Another really special guest at the event who came with the group was 10-year old Alohalani, who just turned 10 years old Saturday. She had a birthday party planned back home, but she decided she would rather travel to Nashville to be with the other children her age who lost three of their friends during the shooting. She told the crowd how aloha means love. At the end of the event, all 500 people there sang her happy birthday.
The group was invited to attend the church's Easter service Sunday and many members of the congregation invited them to eat dinner at their homes before making the trip back to Hawaii.
If you would like to support Lei of Aloha for World Peace with their travels, you can donate to their GoFundMe.
