Veterans helping veterans to fight poverty and disenfranchisement | va pacific islands health care | veterans affairs

The Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE) is the department at VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) that accepts donations, manages volunteers, and invests in

sustainable lives for Veterans by helping them with human resources, financial resources, and educational resources.  The Chief of the CDCE, Army Veteran Schoen Safotu, doesn’t just sit

around and wait for donations to walk through the door. He works actively with the community to solicit donations and volunteers to help keep VA programs alive and give help to our most

vulnerable Veterans.  “Sometimes the job requires doing things in your off time like going to an Elk’s Lodge initiation or attending a local sports event,” Safotu said. “It’s about building

relationships with people and getting them to have buy-in to want to help Veterans and support VAPIHCS with donations, volunteer hours, and even teaching classes in art or ukelele.”  Several

classes are available at the new Daniel K. Akaka VA Clinic in Kapolei. The clinic has more space for Veterans to socialize, and CDCE has taken full advantage of the space by adding

activities for Veterans. Ukelele classes are available on Fridays from 12pm to 2pm, and Veterans can register by calling CDCE Voluntary Services Specialist and Army Veteran Alfred Domingo at

808-433-4772. Art classes are available on Wednesdays on a drop-in basis from 10am to 12pm. Veterans can always come by and talk with the CDCE Red Coat Ambassadors to learn more about what

is going on.  “We have space for events now, and so we’ve been doing a lot more big events as well,” Safotu said. “The Ohana Open Market -which is a chance for Veterans and active-duty folks

to come and get food- happens on the second Friday of every month. Just recently we had the Ohana Open Market in combination with a Homeless Veteran Standdown as well.”  The event on May 9,

2025, included a Homeless Veteran Standdown, an Ohana Open Market, and an Information Fair, and it was well-attended. More than 80 Veterans who were unhoused or in difficult situations

attended the homeless standdown portion of the event. They received haircuts, job opportunities, lunch, and other services. Other Veterans who came received groceries at the Ohana Open

Market, and a chance to connect with businesses who serve Veterans at the Information Fair.  “The VA is a way to continue to serve,” Safotu said. “Helping Veterans feels the same as it felt

serving in the Army; it feels like I am doing good for my community and my country. I enjoy what I do, even if I didn’t apply for this position and was appointed to it at first. I’ve come to

really understand the value of it.”  Safotu is from American Samoa, but his family moved to Southern California when he was young. He attended Loma Linda University and got a degree in

Public Health, but he found that the profession felt more like a job than a calling. In 1993 he enlisted in the Army and became a combat medic, and that is when he began to feel that he was

able to make a difference.  “I loved the Army,” Safotu said. “I was a combat medic, and then I worked in the lab at Walter Reed, and the things I was doing felt important. Unfortunately, I

was medically retired after six years. It was right before 9/11 happened, and I remember when my unit deployed; I felt heartsick that I couldn’t go with them.”  In 2009, Safotu got a job at

VA, and he now has 22 years total of federal service. VAPIHCS has given him the opportunity to pull together community organizations and resources to make a difference and help Veterans

every day. In this way, he can continue to serve, even though his active-duty days are over.  “I couldn’t do it without my team,” Safotu said. “Justin Harding -a retired Marine who served 26

years- and Alfred Domingo -retired from the Army after 27 years- are amazing, and all our volunteers work so hard to make the clinics welcoming to Veterans who need help getting enrolled or

finding their way to appointments.”  In addition to planning events and collecting donations, Safotu also tries to find ways to connect Veterans with services and programs that can help

them. VAPIHCS Women’s Health program started a “Coffee and Conversations” program for women Veterans. Safotu saw the value it had, so he started a “Male Veterans Talk Story” which has its

first meeting Friday, June 20, 2025, from 10am to 12pm. Seeing needs and finding a way to fill them is a large part of the CDCE’s role.  “The CDCE is crucial because we make connections,”

said CDCE Voluntary Services Specialist and Marine Corps Veteran Justin Harding. “Working for Schoen, we get to connect community with government and with Veterans to make sure Veterans get

what they need.”  If you would like to donate to the CDCE or if you would like to volunteer with VAPIHCS, call: 808-433-0109. Donations can be monetary, like the recent $5,000 donation from

Governor Josh Green or the recent $6,000 donation from the Elks Lodge in Pearl City to help with Veterans sports programs. They can also be donations of food, such as the Food Bank of

Hawaii’s donations -distributed by the Armed Forces YMCA- that are given out at the Ohana Open Markets. If you prefer, you can also donate your time to help Veterans at one of the VA clinics

throughout the Pacific Islands. “Sometimes when I wake up and my knees are hurting due to injuries sustained in the military and it’s hard to get out of bed, I wonder why I am still

working,” Safotu said. “But then Veterans call me needing help and I connect them with services or assistance, and I know that’s why I’m here. I’m here for them. I’m here because Veterans

need to help other Veterans.”