Scientology Volunteers

People helping people all over the world.

 

Scientologists Sponsor the Drug Free Ambassadors of Australia 

Scientologists are involved in helping kids stay off drugs.  There is a Scientology-sponsored drug prevention web site  and most Scientology churches sponsor drug prevention or drug education programs, particularly those aimed at helping young kids and teens say no to drugs.

This posting by Cyrus Brooks, coordinator of the Drug Free Ambassadors of Sydney, Australia, tells why he dedicates his time to helping kids like this stay off drugs.  Brooks blogs at http://spaces.msn.com/drugfree/

posted by: jbasoon at 17:31 | link | |

Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Celebrity Centre International


Scientology Volunteer Ministers.  Celebrity Centre International is very active in the community.  One of the programs they sponsor is the

Among their activities are:

• Regular Sunday Services delivered at convalescent hospitals, which also include doing group processing, a form of Scientology counseling.
  
• Help on emergencies: For example Volunteer Ministers from Celebrity Centre traveled to New York to help at Ground Zero. They have helped in other disasters such as last winter's tsunamis and the Gulf Coast hurricanes of last year.
  
• Doing assists at such events as the Whole Life Expo and LA Marathon and various street festivals. Thousands of assists have been delivered to people, helping them to relieve pain and stress.¹
• Blood Drives

LA Fire DeptLA MarathonMany VMs have done Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) with the. so that they could be on call as needed. Our CERT trained VMs were asked by city officials to help out at the at the finish line, where athletes may need assistance. They complied and successfully helped many of the athletes, to make the end of the race much less painful, and also provided them with water.

An army of VMs has been trained, and more are being trained up in order to go out into society and help people with their lives.

VMs also train others in the basic tools of the Scientology Handbook, so they too can help others.

1. AssistsL. Ron Hubbard are techniques developed by . They operate on the principle that one tends to withdraw mentally or spiritually from an injured area. Only by restoring communication with this area can one bring the spiritual element into healing, thereby greatly speeding the healing process. Assists are used to alleviate stress and physical aches and pains, or to orient a confused or distraught individual to his present environment.

posted by: jbasoon at 23:02 | link | |

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Tampa, Florida

I found this article on the web site of the Church of Scientology of Tampa.

It's a good example of the kind of work Scientology Volunteer Ministers do:

Lisa Cummins, a trained Volunteer Minister of the Church of Scientology of Tampa, helped on the relief effort for Florida’s record-breaking hurricanes in 2004. Three years before, she assisted Ground Zero rescue workers in their grim task. But, when Cummins saw the first news reports of the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004, she was stunned by the scope of the devastation.

The Clearwater homemaker quickly resolved to take action and do something about it. Her teenage daughter, Jessica, volunteered to join her, eager to contribute in the disaster relief effort.

So it was that the two women arrived in the town of Nagapattinum on the south-eastern coast of India. The mother-and-daughter team were among more than a dozen Volunteer Ministers from Tampa Bay-area Churches of Scientology who flew to that region.

The shock from the tsunami was obvious. Many survivors were disoriented and out of touch with their surroundings.

In these circumstances, Volunteer Ministers respond with spiritual aid, called "assists¹," which restores a person’s awareness of the environment, allowing them to take the necessary steps to ensure their own survival.

Among the survivors Jessica aided were children who were afraid to go near the water, fearing another wave. She administered a "Locational Assist² " which unsticks a person’s attention which has become fixated due to trauma, loss or injury. After 15 minutes these once-frightened youngsters were playing in the ocean.

"Every day when we would arrive at the shelters, more and more people would come up to us and hug us," said Jessica. "These people made me feel like I was a lifesaver. I was so happy to help them."

1 Assist : processes called "assists," developed by humanitarian

L. Ron Hubbard, can be used by anyone to help people who are injured, ill, distraught or injured. Assists do not take the place of medical attention but aid it by addressing the emotional and spiritual side of the trauma.

2 One of the easiest assists to render is the Locational Assist which unsticks a person’s attention which has become fixated due to trauma, loss or injury. A locational can be done on anyone who has friends or family members suffering shock or emotional distress.

L. Ron Hubbard developed numerous applications of his discoveries for the mental and spiritual aspects of a person’s physical difficulties. These are called "assists." The Touch Assist is the most widely used and probably best known assist. The purpose of a Touch Assist is to reestablish communication with injured or ill body parts.

posted by: jbasoon at 07:29 | link | |

Church of Scientology International Pays Tribute to Scientology Volunteer Ministers

The Scientology Effective Solutions web site pubishied this overview of the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in 2005. 

"Tens of thousands of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Australia to England, Russia to the US and dozens of countries in between attended events welcoming in the New Year while celebrating their most accomplished 12 months to date.

“'Never have we helped so many people in so many circumstances as in 2005,' said Edward Parkin, the Vice President for Cultural Affairs Church of Scientology International. “Our Volunteer Ministers have delivered 2.8 million hours of one-on-one help in the last 12 months alone. This started right after the Asian tsunami; then at the bomb sites in London; through hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana and Mississippi, all in addition to helping people in every corner of the globe.”

"Scientology Volunteer Ministers, with their trademark yellow shirts are made up of people of all ages, professions and backgrounds. They now number 60,000.

“'Disaster relief is only one sphere of action. Our aim is to bring compassion, decency and mutual respect in all parts of the world through the practical tools of Scientology,' said Parkin.

"To that end the Church has launched Volunteer Minister Goodwill tours with large yellow tents, which introduce people to these simple yet effective techniques to improve their conditions in life. Volunteer Ministers provide short courses such as how to repair a broken marriage, how to learn, how to organize and manage, how to handle stress and many other skills vital to modern day living. These Goodwill tours are currently in Botswana, India, the Baltic countries and South America, while arrangements are being made to add more in South Asia, the South Pacific Islands and Siberia via the Trans-Siberian Railway.

"The value of these services has been recognized by politicians, police, the military, other relief agencies, civic authorities and most importantly the man in the street. In the words of one mayor whose city had been hit by a disaster, “They have been an invaluable source of information, organizational skills, resources and patience in a time of great difficulty and need here in our city.”

"From another perspective, one Volunteer Minister opined, “the pleasure I get from seeing the relief on the face of someone I have just helped over their pain, shock or trauma, is priceless.”

“'There is so much needed in the world today by so many that their contribution is very welcome” Parkin stated, “the world needs a hand and we have the technologies of L. Ron Hubbard so that something can be done about it.'

"The Churches of Scientology now include over 6,000 groups, missions and Churches in over 156 countries."

posted by: jbasoon at 08:19 | link | |

Church Briefing to Community Leaders Held

This was an intetesting entry in the blog of the Church of Scientology of Canada Public Affairs site:

The Department of Public Affairs and Human Rights held a special briefing to Toronto community leaders on Church human rights, drug awareness and Volunteer Minister programs and how they could participate.

The briefing held at the Toronto church attracted twenty-five leaders from the community.

The attendees were informed about the new drug awareness booklets that are being produced to reach individuals of all ages about the dangers of various harmful street drugs including marijuana, cocaine, “kiddy” cocaine (methylphenidate), crystal meth and heroin.

On human rights front, the new public service announcment ads and TV-spots based on the Universal Declaration on Human Rights produced by Youth for Human Rights and the Church of Scientology were announced and previewed.

A briefing on the community work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers including the work of the VMs in diaster relief around the world and actions being undertaken to address the out-of-control gang violence in Toronto.

posted by: jbasoon at 05:17 | link | |