More than 40 Soldiers with the 65th Engineer Battalion and 70th Headquarters Support Company caught the "Make a Difference Day" spirit as they volunteered their time and energy to support the Helemano Plantation.

Make a Difference Day is an annual celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. It draws millions of volunteers each year, including military organizations throughout Oahu. Hundreds of troops, federal employees and family members joined hands to make a difference in their local communities by cleaning, painting, landscaping, building, and performing other acts of kindness around the island.

"We have been doing this every year since I have been here in 2002," said 1st Sgt. Juan Azucena, Headquarters and Headquarters Command, 65th Eng. Bn. "The 65th has a history of helping the Helemano Plantation, and every year we come out here to continue that tradition."

Operated by Opportunities for the Retarded, Incorporated (ORI), the Helemano Plantation is a 10-acre community complex. The nonprofit organization offers job opportunities and training to individuals with special-needs.

"The majority of the time we help them out with the labor-intensive tasks," Azucena said. "Because this is a nonprofit organization, everything they do, they have to pay out of pocket. And they really can't afford to do a lot when it comes to that expense."

Over the years, Soldiers have cleaned gutters, spray washed rooftops, and painted the parking lot and every building within the complex.

This year, Helemano accumulated many unusable donations, and employees were unable to dispose of the items or take time to organize them. Soldiers, therefore, helped organize the donations, clean up trash, trim banana trees and just make everything look better, Azucena said.

"We know that being in the military, you guys are busy with your own work and your own deployments and things like that," said Yvonne Deluna, program director at the Helemano Plantation. "So just the small amount of time you do give to us, especially today, means a lot, and we are very grateful."

Azucena said volunteering is not only fun, but also makes an impact on someone else's life, regardless of how big or small the task.

"It is very important to us to volunteer and help the local community because it also helps others to understand that ... we [Soldiers] do care about everybody and ... will come out and support the community to build the bond that we have with them right now," Azucena said.