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As the year and the decade draw to a close, as we reflect and also look ahead, we'd like to take you to a place on our campus you probably don't know even exists.
It took three years of tremendous effort and a shared vision on the part of a grant-writing team, campus administration, faculty, staff, community members and student veterans to open the first Veterans Resource Center in the University of Hawaii system here at UH-Maui College in November 2013. It received its initial funding through the U.S. Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program and has survived, almost solely, on additional grants ever since.
Aris Banaag, our personal support counselor -- and an active duty Hawaii Army National Guard captain -- voluntarily works as the center's coordinator and spends as much time there as he can. He's grateful for the grants, but the proverbial cupboard -- funds with which the center is able to buy "consumables" like paper, printer ink, snacks -- has been almost bare for a long time. Enter Brian "Doc" Dellaport, aka the VRC Angel.
"I grew up on Oahu and volunteered for service right after high school. I was a platoon medic in Vietnam," Doc explains, "and I wanted to stay in that field when I came home. I became an operating room orderly and then a paramedic. I moved to Maui in 1972 and was one of the first two paramedics here. By 1980, I had burned out."
He had also experienced the kind of "rough homecoming" so many Vietnam veterans did -- confrontational and, often, abusive. "Like other vets, I felt very isolated. We isolated ourselves. I didn't make myself known to other vets and they didn't make themselves known to me."
He was determined that not happen to returning GWOT (Gulf War on Terror) vets here on Maui. He formed a Maui branch of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association (CVMA) and together with dozens of his Oahu counterparts, the small Maui contingent does great work -- taking Christmas gifts to the Tripler Pediatric Oncology unit, bringing foodstuffs to Fisher House for homeless vets, acting as deployment/redeployment escorts, participating in the PTSD Recovery Rehabilitation Program, and so much more.
So when Doc met Aris Banaag and learned that the UH-MC VRC could close any day, "that shook me up," says Doc. "There was only $400 in their account. They hadn't been able to buy printer ink for a year." He rallied his CVMA troops and quickly collected $2,000. Then he spearheaded a chow fun sale -- the first ever fundraiser for the center - and raised $3,000. And he covered the $800 in costs out of his own pocket. He also deposits $300 a month of his own money into the center's account. And that's only one of the reasons everyone calls him an "angel."
Current center funding comes from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant. Weekly discussion groups -- Dialogues on the Experiences of War -- are part of that grant fulfillment. And Doc is a big part of those discussions, which provide a safe environment for veterans to explore their personal experiences and journeys back.
"Doc is a really big blessing," says Banaag. "He's an amazing man with a really big heart. He's been our angel for the last year."
Ren Fernandez concurs. "When he started coming to our discussions, he was so interested and so willing to contribute right off the bat. We needed that. He's an angel," says Fernandez, who is enrolled in our construction technology program. She served eight years in the U.S. Army including two deployments, one to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.
As Banaag explains, "our mission is to streamline, as much as possible, the transition for vets from service to college, to minimize their frustration with the process," to give them a safe, comfortable place to gather and network and share and enjoy time with others who have had similar experiences. The NEH grant ends in June. It is, obviously, critical that the center's doors remain open and welcoming. Into 2020 and far beyond. We need more angels . . . just like "Doc" Dellaport.
The UH-MC Veterans Resource Center is open to all veterans. To learn more, please visit maui.hawaii.edu/veterans. In addition to information about our on-campus center, you'll find links to many useful resources.
* Lui K. Hokoana, Ph.D., is chancellor of the University of Hawaii Maui College. ìKa'ana Mana'o,î which means "Sharing Thoughts," is scheduled to appear on the fourth Saturday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH-Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.