Each year, Hawaii's seniors work alongside other volunteers to gather plumeria to make lei for the graves of veterans at Hawaii's cemeteries.  This year is no exception.

“We'll be taking a group of seniors and some youth members up to our Koko Head Crater which is our area where we have a lot of plumeria and we'll be picking plumerias from there,” said Steven Santiago of Honolulu Parks Department.  “We'll also have crews out around the island looking for plumeria trees."

Santiago is quick to point out, you don't have to be a member of a senior organization to help out with this effort.  Throughout our island home, many neighborhoods are rich with plumeria trees.

"What you can do is go out to your trees in the morning, pick some flowers, maybe sew a lei, get some friends over at your house, sew a lei together, bring it over to one of our local fire stations before 12 o'clock on Friday and if you can do that, we'll transport those leis all the way up to Punchbowl Cemetery," said Santiago.

The collecting of the flowers is time consuming, of course.  But the sewing of the lei takes time as well.  If you are going to bring ready-made lei to the fire station, a couple of notes of interest.

"And you sew it right down and your lei needs to be at least 22 to 24 inches long - enough to go around our little flag pole that's on each grave," said Ilima de la Cruz of Lei Queen.  "And when you sew your lei, don't tie it, yeah?  Leave it open because all they have to do is just circle it around."

Here are some sites that will be accepting flowers up until noon Friday - Makua Alii Senior Center at 1541 Kalakaua Avenue, Waipahu District Park and Kailua District Park.  And volunteers willing to turn those flowers into lei are also welcome.