As the Navy prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday in October, U.S. Navy Region Hawaii has been working to spotlight and encourage volunteerism among its ranks in the islands.
The service launched its Laulima Navy project last October with the goal of highlighting 250 acts of volunteerism in time for the Navy’s birthday. As of this month, the Navy has exceeded that goal, hitting 259 acts and counting.
Jordan Garrett, who grew up in Makaha and serves as the Navy’s regional director for Fleet and Family Services, had a hand in developing the program with Rear Adm. Stephen Barnett, who had commanded Navy Region Hawaii since 2022 and left this month to take command of Navy Region Mid-Atlantic in Virginia.
“The team was just trying to figure out a way to kind of highlight and capture those acts that people were already doing and trying to get some synergy around that,” Garrett said. “It’s not that ‘Hey, look, we’re going to do this one year and then done.’ Really, the heart behind it was capturing some of the existing good deeds, and what we’re finding is by spotlighting those things there’s even more interest to get out there, which is just awesome.”
Karina Wise-Estrada, a civilian engineer at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, has long been active in supporting STEM education — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in local schools. On weekends, she also volunteers with Sir Newton, a 4-year-old Labradoodle who has made the rounds as a therapy dog through the Hawaiian Humane Society’s Pet Visitation Program.
They make regular visits to Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System where they spend time with patients, family members and staff.
“Back when I was in graduate school, there was a dog therapy group that came in during finals week to kind of help the stress of sitting for finals, and that always stuck with me because it got me so excited and they would make me feel really good,” Wise-Estrada said. “I always had it in the back of my head if I ever got a dog that I would love to do that.”
Navy Lt. Trevaughn Luncheon said he tries to take on a volunteer project at least once a month in Hawaii, doing cleanups and any other opportunities he can find and make time for. He said that when he was stationed in Florida, he tutored students working toward their GED diploma.
“It’s just about giving back to the community,” Luncheon said. “It really doesn’t matter how you give back to me, it’s just important to give back in some way because we have a lot of opportunities and privileges that other people don’t have, and it’s just good to show gratitude by helping others.”
Luncheon serves as a lawyer in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General Corps, but his career didn’t start there. He was born in Guyana and grew up in the island nation of St. Lucia. After immigrating to the U.S., he served 12 years as an enlisted man in the Marine Corps before commissioning as a Navy officer and pursuing law.
“Coming from Third World countries to the First World, there are a lot more opportunities,” Luncheon said. “So I guess just by being in a First World country you have more opportunities, and realizing that there were less opportunities before kind of gives you that extra push to help out wherever you can.”
Source: The Garden Island