LIHU‘E — Justin Bolosan was surprised Saturday while un-casing his Strings of Joy Kala ‘ukulele.
The gig bag had effectively veiled special engraving on the face of the soprano ‘ukulele, prompting Bolosan’s friends to un-case their instruments in search of more surprises at the final Strings of Joy distribution to Class of 2020 high-school students at Kukui Grove Center in Lihu‘e.
Two earlier distributions moved ‘ukulele to graduating seniors from Kapa‘a High, Waimea High and charter schools.
Saturday’s distribution focused on getting Kala instruments to graduating seniors from Kaua‘i High, Island School and other schools whose graduates may have missed earlier distributions.
Strings of Joy is a grassroots effort by a group of friends representing Hanalei Strings and Life’s Bridges, who raised funds to provide a Kala ‘ukulele, a special commemorative trucker’s cap, a book of mele and a gig bag to more than 700 high-school seniors who were scheduled to graduate in the thick of the novel coronavirus.
The gift from Kaua‘i is meant to symbolize hope despite the seniors’ milestones like proms and graduations being called off because of the pandemic.
“We are just a group of friends who wanted to do something special, hoping the seniors will feel our love and pride for them,” said Tora Smart of Hanalei Strings.
“And, we had to do this sort of guerilla-style without much coordination with schools or the Department of Education because they had enough on their plates already,” said Smart.
More than 170 individuals and community donors pledged their support for the gesture, making it possible for the committee to distribute the gifts.
Following the Saturday distribution, the remaining ‘ukulele packages moved back to Hanalei Strings, where graduates who could not make the distributions can claim their gift on any day from 2 to 6 p.m. through Saturday, Aug. 15.
“We still need to distribute to 116 Kaua‘i High School graduates and 119 Kapa‘a High School grads,” Smart said. “We don’t want to force an ‘ukulele on them, but we would like them not to miss out just because they didn’t know.”
For the graduates who claimed their Kaua‘i gifts of love, follow @stringsofjoykauai on Instagram for notices of fun programming ideas from the Strings of Joy committee.
“We ask students to tag us in their posts so we can repost and share what they are doing with their ‘ukes,” Smart said.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
