Scientology Today

Sandy, Utah, Scientologist lives by the Volunteer Minister motto: “Something CAN be done about it.”

One of the charter flights that brought medical professionals and Scientology Volunteer Ministers to Haiti, arranged by Joava Good

Sandy, Utah—Sandy resident, Joava Good says “Haiti made the Indonesia tsunami, Katrina and 9/11 look small by comparison.” In a presentation to the Sandy City Citizen Corps Council Thursday, March 11, entitled Church of Scientology Disaster Relief, she will share eight lessons learned in Haiti that can make all the difference in any future disaster.  Good, a member of the Draper City Emergency and Advisory committee for the past four years calls Haiti “a real eye-opener” and “the worst catastrophe we’ve ever worked on.”

When she heard about the Haiti earthquake on January 12, Good contacted the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator in Los Angeles and was soon engaged in the extraordinary challenges of getting vitally needed medical personnel, supplies and Volunteer Ministers to Haiti.  “It was daunting,” said Good.  “Port-au-Prince was decimated—no power, no communications systems, no landing lights on the runway, only one runway open and that one in awful shape, all the planes were parked in the dirt, and no civilian flights were landing.”

Good called on her 23 years as a travel agent and travel agency owner to pull off the task. She found a company to fly first responders to Haiti at cost—a private aviation company provided the planes and the Church of Scientology paid for the fuel and expenses of disaster response personnel going on those flights.

With hundreds of thousands of Haitians injured, and countless lives depending on immediate medical care, the highest priority for Good and the Volunteer Minister team was to fill the planes with medical professionals and smaller support teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers.  Good put out a call for doctors, nurses and EMTs and the response was immediate.  Dr. Edouard Hazel of the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad said he had 65 doctors ready to leave at once. The Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps answered with a team of volunteers ready go, and nurses, sanitation specialists and a telecommunications specialist signed on as well. “Seventy percent of the passengers on our first charter flight were medical professionals,” said Good. The remaining seats were filled by Scientology Volunteer Ministers, trained in organizational skills that enabled the doctors to provide their life-saving skills once in Haiti.

Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who also created the Volunteer Ministers program, gave it the motto “Something can be done about it.”  “We live that motto, and it is really true,” said Good.  “When one of our charter planes was leaving Haiti, we ‘rescued’ a group of doctors who had been stranded at the Port-au-Prince airport for 48 hours, flying them back to the United States on our return flight. One of them, a chief of surgery, asked me why the Church of Scientology was doing this. I told him our motto, and he understood.  This is what we do.  We fill in the gaps.  You can operate on somebody and save his life—we provide support with anything you need in the hospital and give you a ride home.  We find out what’s needed and wanted and that’s what we do.”

Good is the Utah Representative for the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response and special adviser to the National Director, Rev. Sue Taylor.  Good is also a member of VOAD (Volunteers Organizations Active in Disasters), she is FEMA, Red Cross, and CERT trained, and is herself a CERT trainer.  She has been an active Scientology Volunteer Minister for more than 30 years.

For more information on the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team, visit their blog at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Recently back from three weeks in Haiti, mother of eight and Scientology Volunteer Minister Donna Cooper, shown here at a Haiti orphanage, is already planning her return.

With only 16 days until she and her husband retire, Donna Cooper, mother of eight, grandmother and soon-to-be great grandmother from Pahrump, Nevada, is not planning how she will spend her well-earned leisure time. Instead she is boning up on how to avoid cholera and mosquito-borne tropical diseases as she prepares to return to Haiti to continue her work with the Scientology Disaster Relief Team in Port-au-Prince.

“As soon as my husband heard about the earthquake he looked at me and said ‘I know, you have to go,’” said Cooper. A Scientologist since 1997 and veteran of the Scientology Disaster Response in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, she immediately contacted the Church of Scientology of Las Vegas and the Volunteer Ministers Hotline to arrange transport to Port-au-Prince.

Cooper left from Los Angeles on a Scientology-sponsored charter flight January 21, the second of six such flights that have brought over 400 doctors, nurses and EMTs to Haiti and more than 200 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to support them in their work.

Most of the Volunteer Ministers worked in two of the Port-au-Prince hospitals or in clinics set up in tent cities in and around the city. But Cooper wanted to do what she did in New Orleans—take care of the people who are taking care of the disaster victims.  So Donna cooked and washed clothes for the doctors, nurses and Volunteer Ministers.

“The doctors were great,” she said. “They slept on the ground in sleeping bags just like the rest of us, they didn’t ask for special favors. They never complained about anything.”

“We didn’t have a kitchen-just a couple of two-burner hotplates,” she said.  “One day I grabbed two big bags of rice, 33 cans of soup, four cans of peas and cooked it all together. It was hard to believe, but everyone loved it.  People were so easy to please.  I did laundry for the doctors and nurses because they simply had no time to wash their own scrubs.”

“Between our camp and the UN area at the airport were huge stacks of donated food.  We would load it into a big truck to bring it to four local orphanages.  Doing the food drop one day, it really hit me that here are these kids who have nobody—homes gone, families gone—they just wanted to be hugged.  We’ve all had hardships in our lives, some more, some less, but nothing most people have experienced has been like that. The Haitians are amazing people.  They are so resilient, so strong.”

Cooper plans to return to Haiti mid-April, after she and her husband officially retire from farming.  Their oldest son and his wife and family are taking it over, which allows Cooper to be gone for as long as needed. “My husband is the most wonderful guy on the face of the Earth and he understands I have to go back,” she said.

Cooper explains why she is returning to Haiti when she could be enjoying the ease of retirement after operating a farm and raising a large family.  “A lot of volunteers have had to return home, but it isn’t over.  I can go back and I so badly want to go back.”

This time, Cooper’s 17-year-old daughter will go to Haiti with her.  “She wanted to come with me in January but I made her stay in school.  Now that she’s seen my pictures and read the journal I kept, I can’t keep her from going.”  The teenager will work alongside her mother, helping in the next phase of disaster relief.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology that provides community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 145 worst-case disaster sites.

For more information on the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response, visit the Volunteer Ministers blog at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Scientology Volunteer Minister David Dempster, a Scotsman who has lived in Clearwater, Florida for the past four years, was on the first Scientology-sponsored charter flight to Haiti on January 16, departing from JFK Airport in New York.   The aircraft transported more than 100 doctors, nurses and EMTs (emergency medical technicians) to Haiti, and a team of Volunteer Ministers to support them in their work.  Five more flights sponsored by Scientologists have provided transport for over 600 medical and support personnel on donated planes from New York, Los Angeles and Miami.  Dempster, who provided urgently needed administrative backup to doctors at two Port-au-Prince hospitals, is back in Florida now, and reflects on his experiences there.

Dempster was first deployed to General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.  “On our drive to the hospital, the physical destruction we saw was staggering,” he said.  “A local resident told me most buildings are made of concrete blocks to safeguard against hurricane damage, but this served them badly in the quake.  The damage was exacerbated by the common practice of mixing extra sand in the concrete to save money.  Because of this, the walls just crumbled in the earthquake.”

At General Hospital, Dempster’s team provided administrative backup to the doctors and nurses on duty.   “Our Volunteer Ministers organized incoming medical supplies, helped calm distressed patients, distributed water to patients, carried stretchers, helped deliver babies and assisted with amputations, of which there were many,” he said.

“We had a team of four or five Volunteer Ministers assisting the doctor who ran the Intensive Care Unit during the day and two Volunteer Ministers who took on overnight duty.  This made an enormous difference in the quality of patient care.”

Dempster also worked at the University of Miami tent hospital.  Medical staff had arrived in Haiti, but with no administrative personnel to support them.  This tied up the doctors, nurses and EMTs in administrative and logistics functions, drastically cutting into their patient care.  To free up the doctors and nurses, the Volunteer Ministers took over myriad administrative support functions.

Organization of medical supplies was the first critical need.  Donated supplies had been dropped off, unsorted and unlabeled, forming mountains of boxes, and the scene was consuming precious hours of doctors’ and nurses’ time trying to find a particular medication, a clamp or a syringe.  The Volunteer Ministers attacked the disarray of the supply tent, sorting and stacking, organizing and labeling, and setting up a distribution line to get needed items to medical personnel rapidly.  This handling of the supply tent by the Scientology Volunteer Ministers enabled the doctors and nurses to spend their time treating patients, with many lives saved as a direct result.

Another area of enormous need was the organizing and running of triage—registering incoming patients, giving them wristband IDs, and noting their visible injuries so doctors and nurses could more rapidly assess priorities.  Dempster was put in charge of the Volunteer Ministers in this area, replacing a nurse who had been doing this.  “She was very relieved to be able to get on with actual nursing duties,” he said, “while we Volunteer Ministers took care of administrative and logistics matters.”

Back in Florida, Dempster says the work still to be done is massive and he encourages others to volunteer.

To learn more, visit the Volunteer Ministers blog at blog.volunteerministers.org

On January 6, 2010, Annalisa Tissoni, President of the Church of Scientology of Milan, and Fiorella and Gaetano Cerchiara, President and Director respectively of the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance of Italy, presented a special gift to the village of Twewaa—a new school.  With the opening of this school, the second sponsored by Italian Scientologists, the children of the village gained an important human right, as stated in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—”the right to education.”

The Twewaa school opening ceremony included speeches by village Chief Nana Somua Nyampong II, Assembly Member Paul Adarkwah, and Chief Executive of Kwahu South District Assembly, Samuel Asomani.

“We involved the community in every aspect of the planning and construction of the school because it belongs to them,” said Ms. Tissoni.  They also hired local companies and artisans and purchased all raw materials for the construction from local merchants, as well as school supplies, clothes and shoes for the children and classroom furniture.

The project began three years ago when an educator in the Ghana capital city of Accra needed additional funds to complete the construction of a school. He invited Ms. Tissoni and Ms. Cerchiara to Ghana, and when they saw the need, they immediately decided to help.  With funds raised by the Milan Church of Scientology and the Association for Human Rights and Tolerance, the construction of the Untoma Oxford International School was completed, opening in August 2008 with some 300 children enrolled.

When the Untoma Oxford School was completed, Tissoni and Cerchiara visited outlying villages and chose Twewaa as their next project.  With the Twewaa school now opened, they are focusing on their third project, a school in a nearby village in Eastern Ghana, scheduled to open before the end of 2010.

“We have taken on this project because education is a basic human right and a vital component to creating a better world,” said Ms. Tissoni.  “Our Church is very much involved in promoting human rights awareness.  Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard said ‘Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.’ By helping to build these schools, we are enabling the children to create a better future for themselves and their communities.”

To learn more about the human rights initiatives of the Church of Scientology, visit the Scientology website at www.scientology.org.

Scientology Volunteer Minister, Nicole, tells of her first day in Haiti

Nearly three weeks after the 7.0 earthquake destroyed the city of Port-au-Prince, doctors, nurses and other medical workers continue the battle to save lives of the victims of the disaster.  Teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers are providing support to the medical teams at the General Hospital and the University of Miami Hospital Tent that was erected at the Port-au-Prince Airport, helping with everything from distributing food and water to cleaning and bandaging wounds, assisting doctors in Intensive Care Units and operating rooms and lending moral support to the victims.

Nicole, a Scientology Volunteer Minister from Los Angeles, left on January 22 on a flight chartered by the Church of Scientology, to transport doctors, nurses and EMTs to Haiti, with Volunteer Ministers for logistics support.  Her first day there, assigned to help at the General Hospital, Nicole was startled to see all the patients had been moved out of the building onto the sidewalk or the grass and were lying there on blankets or cots.  Despite the possibility of complications from unsanitary conditions, the likelihood of the hospital collapsing from damage caused by the earthquake and subsequent aftershocks was an even greater threat to the patients’ survival.

Almost every patient Nicole saw had open, bleeding wounds.  Most were amputees or were otherwise disfigured.  Inspired by the dedication of the doctors and nurses, Nicole took on any task that would free them up so the patients could get more treatment for them.  “I washed patients and fed those who could not feed themselves. I massaged atrophied muscles. I got people to sing, to lift their spirits.”

Nicole will never forget the patient she called “Miracle Man,” a name she gave him because only a miracle could have kept his emaciated, maggot-ridden body alive.  Oblivious to his surroundings, he could not eat his food, so Nicole found baby food, which she mixed with water and fed to him through a syringe. She held him, sang to him, and tried to draw his attention to the world around him.

Suddenly she saw him focus.  His eyes no longer vacant, he began to speak.  He called her “sister,” telling her he had no one else in the world—she is his sister now.  He told Nicole to return the next day, that he will be there waiting for her—he had decided to live.

More than 100 Volunteer Ministers have volunteered in Haiti with the Scientology Disaster Response Team, working in hospitals, distributing food, water and medicine, and providing any other assistance needed by medical workers and other humanitarian groups to bring help to the people of Haiti.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers and their work in Haiti, visit their blog at blog.volunteerministers.org.

Today Show covers the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.

“They were at Ground Zero following 9/11, they were at Katrina, and now they’re here, often doing the work that no one else wants to.”

Scientology Volunteer Minister Karen Farrell, who is also a midwife, delivered six babies in one week while serving with the Scientology Disaster Response Team in Haiti.

Karen Farrell is a midwife and a Scientology Volunteer Minister who lives in New England. When she heard about the Haiti earthquake on January 12, her first thought was that she needed to help. Four days later she was in Port-au-Prince with the medical and disaster relief team of doctors and nurses from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad, paramedics and Volunteer Ministers who boarded a flight in New York on January 16, chartered by the Church of Scientology to take medical personnel and supplies to Haiti.

Karen was assigned to General Hospital, where the facilities were woefully inadequate for the doctors and nurses working desperately to do something for the worst of the enormous numbers of earthquake victims. Overwhelmed with casualties, the medical staff could scarcely tend to women having babies.

The Norwegian Red Cross had set up a small makeshift obstetric and surgical unit and welcomed the midwife and doctors newly arrived from America.

Karen and a Haitian-American obstetrician from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad who arrived on the same flight set up a rudimentary labor and delivery room that Karen described as “archaic” and started moving women in.

After a 12-hour shift, exhausted obstetrics staff started leaving for the night. With no doctor on duty, Karen decided to stay. A fortunate decision. Karen delivered two babies that night.

The first baby was a girl whose mother named her “My Love.” The second was born to a 16-year-old first-time mother. Alone, without her family or the father, the young mother was exhausted and terrified. “1 held her in my arms for a long time, rocking her,” said Karen. “After eight hours, we were finally able to move her to a room with power (yes, we were in the dark all that time). I had to show her how to push and get her to understand me.” With the help of a translator, she told the woman, “Be strong and deliver this baby now!”

On another night, six women were in labor, two of them difficult cases. Karen could only hope their babies would hold off until the obstetrics staff came back on duty. Then, as morning dawned, another earthquake struck. Panic swept through the hospital. Some patients, forgetting their limbs had been amputated, tried to stand up and run out. Others who were far too sick to move struggled to get out of bed and out of the building.

“People were screaming and the whole building was shaking,” said Karen. The labor room and all the obstetrics patients were in the basement, and Karen knew that if the building collapsed they would all be trapped.

She scrambled with medical students and military personnel to evacuate the patients from the basement and the wards, carrying them outside and placing them on the ground away from the unstable hospital building.

The move was too much for some. A young man died when his oxygen tank was disconnected so he could be moved. The nurse with him went into shock and was unable to function. Karen quickly applied her Volunteer Minister Disaster Response training that orients a person to their immediate surroundings, and the nurse soon snapped out of her shock and said, “OK, we have a lot of work to do,” and got back to work moving patients to safety.

Amid the death and destruction, one of the pregnant women started giving birth. Haitian women near the mother-to-be began to sing. When the baby appeared, a doctor shouted, “A baby has been born! There is hope in the world.”
Karen was still hoping the two difficult cases would hold off until an obstetrician came back on duty. Just as one woman was about to give birth, her labor slowed and the obstetrician arrived in time and delivered the baby by Caesarian section.

Karen also helped non-obstetrics patients. Many had no family because they were killed or separated in the earthquake, so Karen comforted them.  Though I don’t speak Creole, I could still sit with them and simply listen to them talk. I couldn’t understand their words, but I wanted them to know they were not alone.

“One gentleman had so much fear in his eyes. I put my hand on his shoulder and in French I said ‘calm.’ I just wanted him to know that someone was there. He talked and talked and I nodded my head. I understood enough to know that he was in a lot of pain and was terrified. He thought he was dying, and he was. I got a cold cloth and wiped his face and the back of his neck.

“Everything was in disarray, including the area where the medicine was kept, and the doctors were spending their precious time picking though the medicine trying to find the one the man needed. I told them I would look for it so they could keep treating patients. I finally found it and they gave it to him and he recovered. He made it.”

Karen returned home to Boston after a week, to go back to her job. In one week in Haiti she delivered six babies with her own hands and helped with another. She says the experience changed her, and she will never be the same.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Disaster Response, visit http://blog.volunteerministers.org.

To provide news and personal accounts from post-earthquake Haiti, a new blog has been added to the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website at blog.volunteerministers.org.  Although it documents nearly inconceivable hardship in Haiti, its tone reflects the courage and spirit of the volunteers as they work with people of all faiths, backgrounds and walks of life to bring help to the people of this shattered nation.

Karen writes about the seven babies she delivered in one week in Port-au-Prince. Michaela will never forget working at the General Hospital, caring for the patients who were moved out onto the sidewalks when an aftershock made it too dangerous to keep them inside.  Ellen describes saving the life of a man in the Intensive Care Unit.  The doctors told her if the man fell asleep he would die, so she shook him nonstop for half an hour, calling his name to him over and over—”Jean-Pierre, bon jour! Bon Jour!” Finally, the man pulled through.

Living in tents, subsisting on protein bars and nuts and making do with a bucket for a shower, the optimism of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers shines through.  They take on whatever task is needed to help the people of Haiti, whether it is helping at the hospitals, distributing food and water, delivering medical supplies, or providing Scientology assists—spiritual first aid to help people recover from stress and trauma.

The personal accounts and images on the Volunteer Ministers blog balance the horrors of Haiti with a message of hope.  True to the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers—”Something CAN be done about it”—the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response Team members are making a difference in the lives of the people of Haiti, one person at a time.

On the New York Times blog, Robert Mackey describes relief efforts of John Travolta and wife Kelley Preston, quoting Travolta as saying, “We have the ability to actually help make a difference in the situation in Haiti, and I just can’t see not using this plane to help.”

Travolta flew four tons of ready-to-eat meals, medical supplies, a team of doctors and other relief specialists and Scientology Volunteer Ministers to Haiti, Monday January 25th.

Coverage includes a video clip from AP.

Click to read full article and watch video.

AFP coverage on the Haiti disaster includes a story about the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

For the full article, click here.

Fox TV coverage on the disaster relief initiative of the Church of Scientology:

The Church of Scientology has chartered a jet to ferry about 160 doctors, nurses and other volunteers to Haiti on Saturday to help in the earthquake relief efforts.

A small group of volunteers, including a Haitian-American nurse and a Haitian-American construction worker, was meeting Friday night at the Haitian Embassy in Washington for a midnight bus ride to New York City. They were to join the others for that chartered flight out of JFK International Airport. >>

Click here to watch the video

Miami Herald coverage of the Scientology Haiti disaster relief effort.

The Church of Scientology is chartering a plane Thursday evening from Miami International Airport to Port-au-Prince carrying Scientology ministers, Mormon medics and Haitian-American doctors to join relief efforts in Port-au-Prince.

The 168-seat aircraft is the second the church is sending to Haiti. A crew of 126 volunteers flew from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Haiti Sunday to provide water, food and medical supplies to earthquake victims.

To read article in full, click here.

“I want to go to Haiti with the Scientology Volunteer Ministers to help my people.” - Jude Falaise

When a flight chartered by the Church of Scientology leaves Los Angeles for Port-au-Prince on January 21, Haitian Jude Falaise and her 16-year-old son will be on board.  Falaise lost 11 family members-brothers, sisters and cousins-in the 7.0 earthquake January 12 and says she wants to help those who did survive.

While receiving grief counseling last week at a Los Angeles Church of Scientology, Falaise learned that the Church was organizing a flight to Haiti for doctors, nurses, EMTs and Volunteer Ministers. She contacted the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Relief Coordinator to offer her family’s homes in Port-au-Prince as housing for volunteers, and when she learned of their work, she decided to join the volunteer team herself.

“I’m leaving the comfort of my home and I’m taking my teenage son with me to go volunteer.  What if it was me there with my family, my husband, my children?  I feel it is my duty to go.”

She has also contacted doctors in Port-au-Prince to encourage them to work with the Volunteer Ministers.

More than 100, including Scientology Volunteer Ministers and medical personnel, will be on Thursday’s flight to Port-au-Prince to join teams already there, including 126 Haitian doctors, nurses, EMTs and Volunteer Ministers who arrived on a January 16 charter flight from New York organized by the Church of Scientology.    The Volunteer Ministers are stationed in Port-au-Prince Airport, where they are helping allocating medical personnel, distributing water and food and giving spiritual first aid to relieve shock, stress, exhaustion and trauma.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology to provide community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 145 worst-case disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

For more information on the Haiti disaster relief effort visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers blog.

Church of Scientology organizes charter flight from JFK to Port-au-Prince to bring doctors and relief workers to help in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake.

NEW YORK (January 18, 2010)—A charter flight organized by the Church of Scientology carried 126 doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians and Scientology Volunteer Ministers to Port-au-Prince where the group arrived Sunday. Assisted by Homeland Security, the plane left JFK International Airport Saturday to provide urgently needed help in Haiti in the wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the island on January 12.

The effort brought together medical doctors and nurses from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad (Association des Medecins Haitiens a l’Etranger), paramedics and emergency medical technicians from New York City and New Jersey led by the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Scientology Volunteer Ministers from New York, Tampa and elsewhere.

Upon arrival in Port-au-Prince Sunday, the group received official escort to the designated non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and relief organizations headquarters and coordination center to conference with fellow relief organizations and coordinate their efforts to bring reinforcements to the greatly overtaxed medical teams.  The Volunteer Ministers will also provide spiritual first aide to traumatized earthquake victims and relief workers.

Teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe and elsewhere continue to arrive and will provide administrative and organizational support to the medical teams, distribute supplies and provide trauma relief and grief counseling to the victims and their families.

“We had to reach out to provide substantial and meaningful help to the victims of this disaster,” said Pat Harney, a spokesperson for the Scientology Volunteer Ministers who is heading up the team in Haiti. “We have an outpouring of support from Scientologists and others around the world and we are underway in getting much-needed aid to the people of Port-au-Prince.”

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology to provide community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 145 worst-case disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator has put out a call for Volunteer Ministers to travel to Haiti, in response to the January 12, 2010, magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates the death toll from the earthquake, which destroyed most of the Capital City of Port-au-Prince, could reach hundreds of thousands. Lack of resources and decimated infrastructure in Haiti, the least-developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world according to the US State Department, is severely hampering the search and rescue operation and care for the survivors.

For information on how to join the Volunteer Ministers team in Haiti or to sponsor a volunteer to go contact the Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response Coordinator at vm@volunteerministers.org

In 1961, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “…a being is only as valuable as he can serve others.” This is a precept that inspires the work of Scientologists around the world including those in the Tampa Bay area. The following is a brief description of some of the community outreach groups and organizations local Scientologists have founded and participate in. Membership is not limited to Scientologists and people of all faiths are welcome to volunteer to provide needed services to the people of the community.

Say No to Drugs Race

Twenty years ago, Clearwater resident and world-class runner Sandra Johnson started the Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic to promote an anti-drug message.  Now under the direction of local resident, Chris Alexander, a team of 200 volunteers ensure the race comes off each year without a hitch.  It has become one of the premier races in the Tampa Bay area, drawing up to 1,000 runners with athletes competing from all over the world.

The Community Learning Center (CLC)

Holly and Brendan Haggerty, parents of four, founded the Community Learning Center in 1998 to provide a safe place for kids for afterschool arts and sports programs. The Haggertys have now expanded their program to include literacy tutoring for adults.  Based near downtown Clearwater, their afterschool tutoring programs also run in Pinellas, Dade, Hillsborough, Alachua, Broward-Deerfield and Broward-Ft. Lauderdale counties.  Their 89 volunteers have tutored some 500 students in the past year alone.

Criminon—Florida

Clearwater resident Susan Broughton runs Criminon Florida, a chapter of Criminon International that offers character-building criminal-rehabilitation programs through correspondence courses to more than 2000 inmates in 85 percent of the 75 Florida state prisons. Courses address a wide range of subjects from character building and drug education to study and communication skills.  This activity is 100 percent volunteer-based.

Narconon—Florida

Narconon provides substance abuse education and rehabilitation in three Florida locations: Clearwater-based Narconon Florida, Narconon Destin and Narconon Spring Hill on the Florida Panhandle. Spring Hill and Destin are residential facilities, and the Clearwater operation offers help to addicts who can carry on with their work and their day-to-day lives while participating in the program.   At each of these centers the addicts not only withdraw from drugs, they also address the underlying cause of their addiction by working out and resolving the problems they were trying to “solve” with drugs.  Life skills courses are key to the success of the program. Narconon Florida is a part of Narconon International, a world-wide network of 188 drug education and rehabilitation facilities in 46 countries.

The Way to Happiness

Written by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s, The Way to Happiness is a non-religious, common-sense moral code designed to help young and old alike make decisions that enable them to live happier and more productive lives. In Tampa Bay, the Way to Happiness Club, led by Clearwater resident Betsy Cramb, distributed 62,800 free booklets and held 52 events last year to educate children in the application of this non-religious moral code to improve their survival and the survival of those around them.

The Clearwater Community Volunteers (CCV)

What originally started as the Women’s Auxiliary of the Church of Scientology, the Clearwater Community Volunteers holds fundraisers and events throughout the year to benefit local charities. These include Winter Wonderland in downtown Clearwater, the Easter Egg Hunt in Coachman Park, and Fashions-with-Flair fashion show at the Belleair Country Club. With the funds raised from these events, CCV contributes tens of thousands of dollars each year to worthwhile local charitable organizations. Pamela Ryan Anderson now heads a team of more than 800 CCV volunteers.

Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Florida

Led by Julietta Gil, this group was founded to educate people about the dangers of abusing harmful drugs. A chapter of the international Foundation for a Drug-Free World, members of the local group gave 30 drug education lectures in schools throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough County to about 3,500 people last year. They also distributed 75,000 drug education booklets over the last two years. They partner with many local  groups including the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Clearwater Downtown Partnership and the Sunscreen Film Festival.  The program includes a local chapter of the “Drug Free Marshals,” youth who pledge to be drug-free and encourage others to do the same.

Human Rights Awareness

The protection of basic human rights has been a hallmark of the Church of Scientology since its earliest days. In Tampa Bay, Scientologists participate in two groups that educate people about their rights—the Tampa Bay Chapter of Youth for Human Rights and the Human Rights Group.   Members of Youth for Human Rights give presentations on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in schools throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. They pass out thousands of booklets and arrange the airing of public service announcements depicting the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Headed by Linda Drazkowski, the Human Rights Group held its third annual Human Rights Walk-a-Thon in March at St. Petersburg’s Straub Park. More than 1,000 local residents from many different faiths and backgrounds marched in support of human rights.

Led by Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board Religious Technology Center and the ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion, Scientologists are celebrating a renaissance of their faith.

Today, the Church of Scientology has expanded to more than 8,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups in 165 nations—doubling the number in the last five years.  This year alone, the Church completed a $40 million restoration of one of its oldest landmark buildings and inaugurated five major new Church buildings in Malmo, Dallas, Nashville, Rome and Washington, DC. Current demand for L. Ron Hubbard’s books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology has outstripped the last five decades combined, approaching 70 million distributed in the last two years.  All the while the Church’s ever growing humanitarian programs in the fields of anti-drug, human rights, morals education and disaster relief have positively impacted hundreds of millions of lives.

As the decade comes to a close, Scientologists world over are celebrating their religion’s most expansive year to date.  2009 marked the 25th Anniversary of the International Association of Scientologists, the official membership organization of Scientology. In addressing the more than 7,000 Scientologists and guests in attendance at the anniversary event on October 16th in England, Mr. David Miscavige praised members for their dedication and contribution to the tremendous accomplishments of the Church to date and expressed his optimism for the future of Scientology:

“Our battles of yesterday were to stay alive. Our battles of tomorrow are to overcome the obstacles to eternity itself. Because we have never taken our eye off the ultimate prize, we stand where we are today. Twenty-five years of magnificent accomplishment and a future more glorious than we could have ever imagined.”

The scriptures of Dianetics and Scientology are comprised of over 500,000 pages and over 3,000 recorded lectures by Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Since July 2007, over 67 million copies of L. Ron Hubbard’s basic books and lectures on Dianetics and Scientology have been distributed.  (During the Church’s first 50 years a total of 39 million copies of L. Ron Hubbard’s works on Dianetics and Scientology were in circulation.) With all of these materials available in 15 languages, and the nine basic books now available in 50 languages, the total number of Dianetics and Scientology translations over the last decade is 10 times the previous five decades combined. In recognition of this fact, the Guinness World Records acknowledged L. Ron Hubbard as the world’s most translated author.

In-house digital publishing facilities can print over 500,000 books and 925,000 recorded lectures on CD per week

The demand for L. Ron Hubbard’s materials has grown exponentially in the last year with the numbers of new people coming into Churches and Missions to find out about Scientology growing in the same fashion. Indeed, the Scientology religion is now enjoying its greatest era of expansion in history, with public demand for L. Ron Hubbard books and lectures escalating across more than 165 countries.

To keep pace with the demand, the Church operates two state-of-the-art digital printing and CD manufacturing facilities in Los Angeles and Copenhagen.

In 2009, the Church’s publication arm, Bridge Publications, Inc. in Los Angeles, opened a 274,000-square-foot digital in-house printing and manufacturing facility, thereby increasing its publishing capacity to 500,000 books and 925,000 CDs per week, an increase of 660% over 2007.

State-of-the-art film and audio studios with the most advanced digital recording and editing equipment in the world

In June 2009 the Church celebrated the 21st Anniversary of the Maiden Voyage of the Freewinds religious retreat and annual religious convocation for advanced Scientologists. During this week-long series of events and seminars, Mr. Miscavige announced “the single most momentous advance in Dianetics technology” since the original publication of Dianetics on May 9, 1950.  The project, four years in the making and personally directed by Mr. Miscavige, resulted in 32 films totaling 4 ½ hours.  The films have been translated into 15 languages.  They put Dianetics fully into visual form, making the subject universally accessible to everyone.

June also saw the release of educational films to support Church-sponsored social betterment and humanitarian programs. The first of these was the new, full-length Truth About Drugs documentary giving addicts and at-risk youth the chance to find out from those who have lived it, exactly how addiction shatters lives. The second was The Story of Human Rights, an educational film which provides a short, concise and powerful lesson in the history and necessity of human rights and the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

October marked the completion and release of the feature-length film, The Way to Happiness. This 2-hour film presents this nonreligious common sense guide to moral living by L. Ron Hubbard.

Church-sponsored humanitarian programs touch the lives of hundreds of millions in 2009.

The Church-sponsored humanitarian programs using the latter three films reached hundreds of millions of people in 2009 and billions since their inception.

The Church-sponsored anti-drug education initiative (“Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life”) is the largest nongovernmental anti-drug campaign in the world and, through the airing of public service announcements, distribution of free drug education booklets and events promoting a drug-free life, it has reached over 853 million people since its inception.

The Church-sponsored human rights education program (“United for Human Rights”) is the largest in the world and based entirely on raising awareness of the 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Through the airing of public service announcements, human rights symposiums and events and distribution of human rights educational materials, the campaign has reached over 943 million people since it commenced.

The Church-sponsored morals program based on the common-sense guide to living, The Way to Happiness, has now reached nearly 800 million people through its public service announcements, educational materials and Set a Good Example contests.

The Church of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers, over 200,000 strong, have helped over 1.4 million people in times of disaster in 2009 alone.  The motto of Scientology’s Volunteer Ministers is “Something Can Be Done About It.”

Mr. Miscavige is driving a movement now spanning the world with new Ideal Churches of Scientology.

Mr. Miscavige’s vision sets the direction for the acquisition, design and planning of new Churches-quite literally from inception to ribbon cutting.  For the past five years, the Church has dedicated itself to a program to locate, renovate and open new Scientology Churches to service its parishioners and their communities around the world. Since the launch of this program five years ago, over 70 new buildings have been acquired internationally. Real estate holdings have increased from 5.6 million square feet in 2004 to over 11 million in 2009, with over 600,000 square feet of renovations completed in just 2009.

14 March 2009: At the Church’s spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida, the Fort Harrison Hotel opened in March 2009 after a $40 million renovation and restoration. The building was stripped virtually bare and rebuilt from its core, including the installation of new state-of-the-art systems. This landmark still bears its hallmark historical touches, however, including replication of the lobby’s original black wrought iron work and gold leaf moldings. The resurfacing of the entire exterior with added architectural detailing makes this religious retreat even more beautiful than at its legendary beginning in 1926, when she was known as “the Aristocrat of Southern Florida Hotels.”

4 April 2009: Three weeks after the inauguration of the new Fort Harrison, a new Church of Scientology in the Swedish seacoast city of Malmö was formally opened by Mr. Miscavige. European dignitaries and guests from 32 nations gathered to celebrate a historic day: dedication of the 72,000-square-foot landmark Church of Scientology, acquired, designed, renovated and opened in less than six months.

11 April 2009: One week later, in Dallas, Texas, a 41,000-square-foot Church opened its doors. With Mr. Miscavige officiating, the Church of Scientology Dallas was formally welcomed to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex by City of Irving Mayor Herbert Gears.

25 April 2009: The month of April ended with the grand opening of the new 36,000 square-foot Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre Nashville.  The opening of the new Church building in Music City USA, an historical landmark, was again led by Mr. Miscavige and joined by scores of local dignitaries, residents and visiting artists totaling over 3,000 guests.

24 October 2009:  In October, more than 6,000 people gathered in Rome’s Casalotti de Boccea district to celebrate the grand opening of the new Church of Scientology Rome. The 69,000-square-foot Church, situated on 28 acres of parkland, marks the largest expansion to date for Scientology in its 30-year history in Italy. Mr. David Miscavige welcomed parishioners to their new home. The new Church will serve parishioners of Central Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean.

31 October 2009:  One week later, the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, originally established in 1955 by Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard, opened its new premises six blocks from the White House and minutes from the Capitol Mall.  Attended by nearly 3,000 Scientologists and guests, the celebration was presided over by Mr. David Miscavige. The newly acquired and fully restored 49,000-square-foot historical building now represents the largest Scientology presence in DC in Church history.  Its grand opening now brings the Church of Scientology’s presence in the nation’s capital to three very important properties:  The new Embassy Building providing all Church services for parishioners of Washington DC; the original Founding Church premises where L. Ron Hubbard personally worked, now fully restored and open to the public as a heritage property of the Church’s history; and the Church’s well-known Fraser Mansion at DuPont Circle which will now become the Church’s National Affairs Office.

The Church of Scientology looks to 2010 for further unprecedented growth, with greater expansion and success in ministering to its parishioners and their communities than ever in its history.

This year has marked the greatest expansion in Scientology’s history. The Church looks to 2010 for even greater success with scores of new Churches and Advanced Organizations on the horizon.  New Churches are scheduled to open in Pasadena, California; Inglewood, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Seattle, Washington; Harlem, New York; Portland, Oregon; Twin Cities, Minnesota; Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Quebec, Canada; Mexico City, Mexico; Tel Aviv, Israel; Melbourne and Sydney, Australia and Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Additionally and most significantly, the doors will open to the newly constructed 375,000-square-foot Church serving as spiritual headquarters for the religion, located in Clearwater, Florida.

Most importantly, 2010 will bring the completion of a decades-long project to restore and make available the complete library of Mr. Hubbard’s works, including hundreds of his over 3,000 recorded lectures never heard beyond his original audience.

For more information, high-resolution still photos and video footage please contact Church of Scientology International Public Relations Department.

Mayor of Torino Certificate of Merit in recognition of the Scientology Community Civil Protection Association (PRO.CIVI.COS) for the civil defense and relief work undertaken on behalf of the Village of San Giacomo  and the City of L’Aqauila, hit by the earthquake of April 6, 2009.

Torino, Italy—The Mayor of Torino, Sergio Chiamparino, honored ten civil protection associations that aided the people of L’Aquila and surrounding villages following the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck the area leaving  1,500 injured, an estimated 28,000 homeless and 300 dead.  Among those recognized was the Scientology Community Civil Protection Association (PRO.CIVI.COS) composed of 170 volunteers who contributed more than 35,000 man-hours in service to the community.

The Scientology volunteers personally took on the supervision and running of several of the camps themselves, caring for every aspect of the physical needs and trauma relief or “spiritual first-aid” of those under their care.

PRO.CIVI.COS is part of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps, an embracive program of the Church of Scientology to provide community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 126 worst-case disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

Tampa Bay Informer
Written by Sirio Balmelli
Monday, 14 December 2009

The Clearwater Community Volunteers held their Anniversary Celebration of the 17th Annual Winter Wonderland Holiday Festival and Charity Drive on December 11th. On the corner of Drew Street and Ft. Harrison Avenue, a Christmas playground has sprung from the barren asphalt of the parking lot behind the Osceola Hotel, driven by the organized tenacity of the Clearwater Community Volunteers (CCV), working with local charities, for the benefit of members of the community.

Parents and children alike began trickling in around 5:30 p.m., finding all in readiness for an evening of holiday fun, from Mrs. Claus’ Cookie Workshop to the elves serving piping hot chocolate from the North Pole Kitchen.

To begin the celebration, Clearwater Boy Scout Troop 313 performed their flag ceremony, followed by the arrival of Santa Claus, who this year seems to have upgraded from the old reindeer-sleigh to a custom red and white Harley Davidson Road Glide with saddlebags enough for an entire city’s-worth of deliveries.

Next, Clearwater Community Volunteers Executive Director Pam Ryan Anderson took the stage, welcoming all who had come and taking the opportunity to thank everyone who had helped make Winter Wonderland a reality, from sponsors like Postcard Mania and BHC Mechanical, to the faculty and students of local schools Clearwater Academy International, Washburn Academy and Delphi Academy, who had volunteered to help finish the Christmas preparations when the recent spells of rough weather delayed completion of Winter Wonderland. As Pam said during her speech, “It takes a village to make this village,” and the festive atmosphere of Winter Wonderland was testament to her words.

Also speaking at ceremony were Deacon Maurice Mickens, of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, who invited the crowd to join him in a beautiful prayer to mark the occasion, and Pat Harney, Directory of Community Affairs for the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology is a major sponsor of the event, providing the grounds for Winter Wonderland to CCV since its first holiday season in 1993. Mrs. Harney shared a quote from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard: “On the day when we can fully trust each other, there will be peace on earth.”

By the end of the ceremony, Winter Wonderland was positively swarming with young and old alike—taking pictures with Santa, riding the ponies, visiting the Bouncy House or otherwise enjoying the festive mood of a small village entirely dedicated to the celebration of the spirit of Christmas.

As the chill wind brought low-flying thunderclouds scudding overhead, promising rain to come, community volunteer and promising vocalist Sally Gatza strode on stage, unleashing a stunning repertoire of Christmas cheer. It was hard to comprehend how this 13-year-old could weave such complex harmonies and fill the air with the soulful crooning she did, but one and all enjoyed her singing, and the crowd grew to fill the village near to bursting. Also steadily filling was the enormous sleigh where visitors deposited unwrapped toys and non-perishable food items destined for children and families who might otherwise have to do without; supporting Winter Wonderland’s annual toy and food-drive activities. By the time Sally had finished, and the Tricky Dog Show had taken over the stage, fun irreversibly filled the air, ever-enhancing the magic of Winter Wonderland till nights end.

Winter Wonderland remains open until the 20th of December, and freely welcomes all members of the community to come in and enjoy the holiday spirit. Happy Holidays!

For more information on Winter Wonderland or the CCV, visit www.clearwatercommunityvolunteers.org.

Story reprinted with permission of the Tampabay Informer http://tampabayinformer.com

Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International Holds 17th annual fundraiser benefiting the Hollywood Police Activities League.

Jenna Elfman with PAL Marshal Arts students who gave a demonstration of their skills at the 17th annual “Christmas Stories” celebrity performance at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood.

HOLLYWOOD - Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International members Anne Archer, Erika Christensen, Jason Dohring, Jenna Elfman, MC Lyte, Priscilla Presley, Beth Riesgraf and Edgar Winter and film composer Mark Isham performed in the annual Christmas Stories show over the weekend to an audience of over 500.   Created in the theme of a 1930s holiday variety radio show, guests were treated to traditional and original renditions of music, dance, skits and stories.   Since 1993 the Christmas Stories performances have raised more than $245,000 for community youth programs.

This year’s production benefits the Hollywood Police Activities League annual Christmas party and at-risk youth programs and will provide meals, games and toys for children who would otherwise have no Christmas.

LAPD Hollywood Division Captain Bea Girmala presented a city of Los Angeles Certificate of Commendation to the Church for its 17 year-old charity event, which was accepted on behalf of the Church and its volunteer performers by the President of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International, Maria Ferrara.  “We are honored to support our police in their efforts to help children in need and give them a better future,” said Ferrara.

The Police Activities League (PAL) is a nationwide youth development program operated by police officers who provide positive role models for youth.  The program includes educational and recreational activities for at-risk youth as an alternative to gang violence, drug use and criminal activities.  Hollywood PAL is staffed by full-time police officers dedicated to programs that serve Hollywood youth, including swimming, street hockey, basketball, martial arts, soccer, computer activities, arts, crafts and educational tutoring.

Scientology Youth in France in partnership with Youth for Human Rights International work to give new meaning to human rights education.

Scientology volunteers across France are promoting human rights education, in support of the United Nations International Year of Human Rights Learning that began on December 10, 2008.   The day is also marked as Human Rights Day, in honor of the United Nation’s adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948, a document drafted by a UN Committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Champions of human rights for decades, Churches of Scientology have spearheaded human rights reforms since the 1950s and in partnership with Youth for Human Rights International have distributed over 1.5 million human rights educational publications and obtained over 200,000 signatures in support of human rights education.

In France, volunteers of Scientology Churches are gearing up for Human Rights Day 2009 after a year of weekly human rights education events in Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, Vannes, Clermont-Ferrand, and Nice.   Dedicating more than 5,000 man-hours to the cause over the past year, the young activists estimate they have promoted the UDHR to more than 48,000 people in France in 2009.

In addition to gaining support from individuals for human rights education through petition drives, the youth have distributed human rights booklets at music concerts, discussed actions to counter racial discrimination on a radio program and created their own song and dance performances demonstrating the UDHR article on Freedom of Expression.   The volunteers also supported UN General-Secretary Ban Ki Moon’s call for a global ceasefire on the International Day of Peace, by distributing booklets at the Esplanade des Droits de l’Homme (Esplanade of Human Rights) where a monument commemorates the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Universal Declaration.

“Human rights are something everyone needs to know,” said one volunteer.  “Then you make sure everybody’s human rights are respected, including your own.”

Scientology Volunteer Minister provides seminars to Kenya groups to help them cope with a changing environment.

As Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga was speaking to a regional forum on the economic and social ramifications of global warming Monday, Scientology Volunteer Minister David Dempster had just arrived back in Kenya to deliver a weeklong training session to Scout Leaders in Nairobi.

An active Volunteer Minister of the Church of Scientology of Tampa, Dempster first visited the country in September when he was asked to fly there to deliver a series of Volunteer Ministers seminars.   Based on practical technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard, these seminars help people cope with the issues of a changing society.

For ten days, together with staff of the Church of Scientology Mission of Nairobi, Dempster delivered seminars to a wide variety of groups and organizations in the city of Nairobi and neighboring towns and villages.  These seminars helped the attendees improve their communication and organizational skills as well as their ability to resolve problems.

Now back in Nairobi at the invitation of the Scouts of Kenya, Dempster is helping Scout Leaders accomplish their purpose for the entire country with courses aimed at developing good citizenship, character and self-reliance.

“It is a particular pleasure to work with this group and help them add to their scouting skills.”said Dempster.  “These dedicated leaders are working hard to help their fellow Kenyans and improve conditions in their beautiful country.”

For more information about the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org.

Church of Scientology  Drug-Free Marshals helped  hundreds of LA youth take the “drug-free pledge” at a Los Angeles block party.

Youth of the Church of Scientology are working to arm LA kids with the best anti-drug weapon there is—the real facts about drugs.  At a block party last weekend, these youth helped 200 kids and teens make decisions that will benefit them the rest of their lives—the decision to live a drug-free life.

For the past 16 years, the Los Angeles Church of Scientology Drug-Free Marshals have activated young people of all backgrounds, faiths and ethnicities in pledging to live drug-free lives and helping their friends and families do the same.

“Kids are exposed to peer pressure and are hit by pro-drug propaganda every time they turn on the TV, listen to their favorite music or log onto the Internet,” said Edie Reuveni, President of the Church of Scientology Los Angeles who coordinates the activities of her Church’s chapter of the Drug-Free Marshals.  “It’s no wonder nearly half of all public school children in the United States have tried drugs or alcohol by the time they are 13.  Educating youth about drugs is vital.”

The Drug-Free Marshals began in California 16 years ago when members of the Church of Scientology decided to do something to protect kids from the dangers of drugs with straightforward education on the facts.    They realized that if kids got onto drugs because of the influence of “friends,” the best solution would be for kids to help other kids say no to drugs.

Like the U.S. Marshals of the Wild West, whose courage and conviction meant the difference between life and death for the settlers and townsfolk of the day, Drug-Free Marshals protect their peers from drugs, which are potentially as deadly as the blast of a gun.

Today, the Drug-Free Marshals provide their peers The Truth About Drugs series of booklets at sports events, fairs and community gatherings.  Kids earn a Marshals badge by pledging to live a drug-free life, to set an example to their friends and families, and help others make the same decision.

The Los Angeles Church of Scientology Drug-Free Marshals are proud to be the first chapter of a program that has been adopted in cities through the United States and in Canada, Africa, Europe, Japan and Taiwan, and, as the Drug-Free Ambassadors, in Australia and New Zealand.

For more information on the drug-education initiative of the Church of Scientology, visit the Scientology web site.

Scientology volunteers from the Church of Scientology in Sydney, Australia have stayed on to help survivors recover in post-tsunami Samoa (picture showing Dianetics co-auditing)

Scientology volunteers from the Church of Scientology in Sydney, Australia, are still in Samoa nearly two months after the devastating September 29 tsunami, extending the relief effort they launched when the tsunami hit.  With damage estimated at $130 million, 143 dead and thousands left homeless, no Samoan has been unscathed by the disaster.

The trauma goes far beyond loss of property.  It drives into the heart of personal and community loss, and that’s where the compassion and skill of the Scientologists come into play.  Once an individual’s physical well-being is assured, the emotional aspect can be addressed—the reason the Scientologists have remained on the island.

One morning at the Apia Fire Station a Scientology volunteer, Darryl, asked the receptionist a casual “How’s it going?”  As cheerful as the woman’s automatic “fine” appeared to be, her eyes said otherwise.

When Darryl gently asked her, “Where were you that day?” the woman choked up as she told her story.  The day the tsunami hit she waded into the debris with the firemen, searching for survivors and pulling them from the rubble—along with the bodies of friends and neighbors who did not survive.

Now, weeks later, this heroic woman was suffering despite her bravery under gruesome circumstances.  In fact, it was because of her bravery.  The way the human mind is rigged, the intense stress she experienced could rebound on her with grave consequences for the rest of her life, with depression, anxiety, even psychosomatic illness.

The Scientology volunteer decided her plans for the morning would simply have to wait.   She cared too much to leave without helping this woman first, especially knowing she could help ease the pain with Dianetics counseling.

Darryl wasted no time.  She gave the woman a Dianetics session, and two hours and many tears later the woman emerged smiling, saying she felt relieved for the first time since her harrowing experience.  This is just one of the many “miracles as usual” Scientology Volunteer Ministers bring to people in need.

Dianetics counseling is described in Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard.  Derived from the Greek words dia, meaning through, and nous, mind or soul, the full definition of Dianetics is what the mind (or soul) is doing to the body.

To learn more about the Scientology Volunteer Ministers visit their web site at www.volunteerministers.org.  To learn about Dianetics or attend a Dianetics seminar visit www.dianetics.org.

Scientology volunteers in Amsterdam demand full implementation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Netherlands must live up to its reputation as human rights champion.

Members of the Church of Scientology of Amsterdam participate in petition-signing events throughout the year to educate the community on the importance of full understanding and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Amsterdam—Scientology volunteers, determined to end blatant disregard for human rights, circulated a petition on the International Day for Tolerance November 16 to demand education on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in all Netherlands schools.  In fact, Scientologists from Australia to Zimbabwe and Canada to Taiwan work in their communities to educate people on human rights and their responsibility for implementing them, not only for themselves, but for others as well.

“Despite The Universal Declaration of Human Rights having been adopted by the U.N. General Assembly more than 60 years ago, human rights are still infringed upon daily in nations the world over,” said Merel Remmerswaal, Public Affairs Officer for the Church of Scientology of Amsterdam, who helped organize the petition-signing event.

Last week, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Program Director at Amnesty International, expressed her concern that human rights are once again under attack.  “Rights fall victim to the views of states with even the most basic human rights, such as protection from torture, are sacrificed to fight terrorism.”

Ms. Remmerswall, whose Church holds educational programs and human rights petition-signing events throughout the year, deplores human rights violations extant in the world today. “Young women are trafficked from Russia for sexual exploitation, African parents look on as their children die a slow death from starvation, people are tortured for their political beliefs,” she said.  “These and so many other human rights abuses run completely counter to the values enshrined in the 30 articles of the UDHR.”

The petition, circulated by Scientology volunteers in partnership with the Amsterdam chapter of Youth for Human Rights International, calls upon the Dutch government to “make human rights education mandatory in schools and to conduct human rights education campaigns for all.”

The Church of Scientology of Amsterdam volunteers partner with a chapter of Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI), which provides booklets, audio-visual materials and other educational materials that broadly raise awareness about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  The booklets and series of 30 short films, one for each article of the UDHR, bring this otherwise formidable document into the grasp of young people.

The preamble of the UDHR calls for “education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms.”  It also states, “…it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

These values are held in common by the Church of Scientology whose founder, L. Ron Hubbard, wrote, “Human Rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”

Scientologists from Australia to Zimbabwe and Canada to Taiwan work in their communities to educate people on human rights and their responsibility for implementing them, not only for themselves, but for others as well. For more information on the human rights education initiative of the Church of Scientology visit the Scientology web site.