Scientology Volunteers

People helping people all over the world.

 

Calling for Volunteers

The Church of Scientology International announced two new campaigns last week and these urgently need the support of many volunteers.

Last weekend most of the Scientology churches around the world showed an event where these campaigns were unveiled.

David Miscavige was the master of ceremonies of the event and introduced and made the point that the world we live in is far from ideal and needs help.

What Mr. Miscavige said really impressed me.

My own life is going pretty well. I don't have anything threatening my personal survival. My friends and family seem to be going alright.

But I read the news and surf the Net and I see the horrendous crimes against humanity from terrorism, war, famine and modern-day slavery. And then you see people "solving" their problems with the latest drug - designer pharmaceutical or street drug, you're still hooked (and from the black box warnings they are far from "safe.")

So these two campaigns hit me right between the eyes. 1. A major ramp up in the anti-drug campaign that the Church has just published a whole new generation of anti-drug (drug education) booklets.

I went to the web site -- www.notodrugs-yestolife.org and read the booklets (you can download them as PDF files and reprint them and use them) and they are wonderful booklets. They are so interesting. They give the history of each drug, all the effects and side effects and people's personal stories (many of which are from kids).

So I decided I am going to help get this out on the Net so people know it's there.

2. The second campaign is a knockout. It is a human rights campaign with the most incredible ads to go up on TV - public service announcements for each of the 30 rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I watched them all. Five of them were shown as part of the event, but then a DVD with all the ads was shown afterwards. I was so impressed by them.

Mr. Miscavige has spoken about the problems of drugs and human rights in a number of speeches recently -- This is Scientology, and his speech at the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology of New York, for example, and what we saw at the event shows a lot has been done on both.

But there are people who need help now and I for one plan to put a lot of time into getting the word out on these.

So what I'm ranting about here is that you should help too.

posted by: jbasoon at 22:30 | link | |

Myhurricanetips.com says:

As Floridians prepare themselves and their families for another hurricane season, government and nonprofit officials are urging them also to prepare to help others if a storm should strike the state.

“Generous volunteers meet essential needs. Their tireless efforts help supplement what government programs provide,” said Scott R. Morris, Florida long-term recovery director for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “Volunteers tackled the challenges of last year’s hurricane season head on, and we encourage a redoubled volunteer effort this year. And to make disaster volunteerism more effective, residents should consider how and where to volunteer now, before a storm strikes. ”

I haven't heard any really satisfactory explanation for it, but the hurricane seasons have been getting worse and worse.

For anyone considering volunteering to help, now would be a good time to get training.

The Church of Scientology of Tampa and the Church of Scientology of Miami are both offering disaster relief training for anyone who wants to learn these techniques (based on theScientology Handbook).

One common complaint I've heard from people who try volunteering is that they end up having to mainly do filing or other administrative tasks because they don't have the training to do the hands-on kind of work that is the most helpful and rewarding.

Our Scientology Volunteer Ministers have trained over hundreds of thousands of volunteers on the spot, in South Asia after the tsunami, last fall during hurricane season, after the Pakistan earthquake last year and the Java earthquake and tsunami this year. (Here's a really nice story about a mother-daughter team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Tampa)

posted by: jbasoon at 23:06 | link | |

Plenty of Work to Do

There is certainly plenty of work for a volunteer to do in this world.

When I was quite a bit younger I used to volunteer a lot. Then I got disillusioned. I tried to help people but kept running into something so weierd. Someone would seem to want help, and would be really down. I'd try suggesting what they could do but it didn't work.

I remember one time, I had a friend who was it a really bad relationship. She was miserable. I kept trying to help her with it. I tried to get her to look at what he was doing. The more she complained about how he treated her, the more she insisted she had to stay with him. I suggested she should move, get a new job, go back to school -- all sensible ideas. Finally I just got so frustrated and cross with her I just avoided being with her, and that was really too bad because I was one of the last friends she had.

On the first course I took in Scientology I was reading the book, The Problems of Work and half way through it I read a chapter that completely explained what was happening with her. Not only that, if I'd read this before I would actually have been able to help her. Another book that is just full of information to help in situations like this is a book most of which has been published online, called the Scientology Handbook

posted by: jbasoon at 07:24 | link | |

Volunteering

In 1928, Websters defined "Volunteer" (the verb) as:

"To enter into any service of one's free will, without solicitation or compulsion."

According to the speech David Miscavige gave at the opening night of the Freewinds Maiden Voyage Anniversary event (I saw it at the San Diego Church of Scientology last weekend) there are now 70,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers.Scientology Volunteer Ministers can do -- how much they help people to straighten out their lives -- it means even more.

posted by: jbasoon at 05:22 | link | |

Volunteer Opportunities in the Bay Area

The Church of Scientology of San Francisco has many programs where volunteers are needed. Their Scientology Volunteer Ministers are very active in the community, and they also have anti-drug programs and an effective outreach program to help youth who have gotten on the wrong side of the law.

For information on how to volunteer, visit the Church of Scientology of San Francisco web site. Their contact information is there.

posted by: jbasoon at 18:14 | link | |