Veterans, We Salute You!: Volunteering with Swords to Plowshares at East Bay Stand Down 2014

By: Helen Li, Associate, Mountain View

“We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give,” Winston Churchill once said. One of my resolutions after passing the California bar was to do some good, especially to those who are less fortunate, in a concrete way using my training and experience. So when I had a chance to volunteer at the East Bay Stand Down 2014 to help veterans obtain the benefits to which they are entitled, I signed up right away.

The East Bay Stand Down is a consortium of community organizations of San Francisco Bay Area that provides a four-day event every other year with a primary goal to serve military veterans who have served our nation. This year, Fenwick & West LLP teamed up with non-profit veteran services organization Swords to Plowshares to help veterans claim the benefits to which they are entitled. I took a day away from the patent prosecution world to learn to give back to this most deserving client base of veterans and walked away with the joy of giving and inspiration.

War causes wounds and suffering inside and beyond the battlefield. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimation, within the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, there are over 7,000 needy or homeless veterans. Nationally, it is estimated that over 250,000 needy and homeless veterans are on the streets on any given night. However, applying VA benefits is a difficult and confusing process. Many veterans are not even aware of their entitled benefits. Compounding the difficulty of the benefit application, those veterans who did not receive fully honorable discharges may be ineligible for most VA benefits.

With four hours of online training on the basics on VA benefits, discharge upgrades and veteran cultural competency, I arrived at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton Saturday morning, September 13, 2014, excited and a bit nervous. It was really hot figuratively and literally. Figuratively, I was immediately warmed up by the enthusiastic volunteers at the registration desk and many more around the fairground, whose smiling faces read “welcome!” It was literally hot (over 90° F) especially after I proudly put a staff volunteer shirt on.

Swords to Plowshares staffed a walk-in clinic with volunteer attorneys, paralegals and law school students from the San Francisco Bay Area. I teamed up with another volunteer attorney and was thrilled to help two Vietnam-era veterans in the morning shift. We listened to their stories and the cultural, educational, psychological and economic barriers they faced in their transition to the civilian world. We brainstormed with them and helped them recall the pivotal – sometimes painful – events from many decades ago that may help their benefits claims. One such brainstorm session lasted three hours! We missed the delicious lunch provided by the event organizer, but were very happy to help the veteran fill out those lengthy and complicated application forms. When he left the clinic knowing his benefit application was ready to go, he shook our hands tightly with touching gratitude on his face. I deeply felt the joy and power of giving.

With a half donut in my stomach, I went back to the afternoon shift and doubled my joy of giving to two more Vietnam-era veterans, including a female veteran at a similar clinic specially set up for female veterans by Swords to Plowshares. On one hand, my heart was so heavy when I listened to her struggles that I barely could hold my tears; on the other hand, I was so inspired by her determination to restore dignity, hope and self-sufficiency not only to herself but also to her fellow female veterans in need. When she hugged me at the end of her session, I felt the difference, be it small, I may have made in her life, by just patiently listening and filling out some legal papers for rebuilding her life.

As many pro bono attorneys before me can attest, there are countless reasons to do pro bono work: feeling good, connecting with people and learning effectively, in other words, making a difference. There is no doubt I can achieve these goals from my job. However, through this pro bono work, I feel very fortunate to be a lawyer and among the few who can make the legal system work for people who give us all they have – gratitude. On the way home, I remembered why I went to law school, but this time with assurance.

Helen Li, a Santa Clara University School of Law alum, is an associate in the Intellectual Property practice group at Fenwick & West LLP. Helen concentrates her practice on the drafting and prosecution of U.S. and international patent applications for clients in computer engineering technologies with a focus on video signal compression and computer networking. Before joining Fenwick, she worked as a software engineer for several Silicon Valley-based technology companies. Helen is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. At pro bono clinics, she not only volunteers as an attorney but also as an interpreter. Helen loves playing ping pong.