In Grateful Acknowledgement of L. Ron Hubbard

One of the greatest gifts I have received from L. Ron Hubbard is the ability to help.

Most everyone, at one point in his or her live, has felt helpless when help was needed--when a loved one died, when a disaster struck destroying a lifetime's possessions, when a friend felt betrayed. To be able to do more than sympathize, to be effective, what would we have given for that ability.

As a Scientology Volunteer Minister I know I have the tools to help no matter the circumstances. And there is not greater gift than that.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Disaster Response Team in Ishinomaki, Japan

Scientology Disaster Response Team in Ishinomaki, Japan

In Ishinomaki, Japan, where 29,000 lost their homes last March from the earthquake and tsunami, the Scientology Disaster Response Team continues its work providing any service needed to make life a bit easier for those affected.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers visited a home for the elderly to provide companionship and Scientology assists—techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard that address the spiritual and emotional factors in stress and trauma.

(Left) A Scientology Volunteer Ministers provides a Scientology assist to a woman at a home for elderly women in Ishinomaki, Japan. Assists are techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard that addressing the spiritual and emotional factors in stress and trauma. Courses in how to deliver Scientology Assists are available through the Volunteer Ministers website at volunteerministers.org


Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Disaster Response in Thailand

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are providing relief in Bangkok, Thailand, where flooding has affected some 3 million people.

Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology Mission of Bangkok are working with other relief organizations to cope with the needs of those at a temporary shelter at Chon Buri College where more than 4,000 evacuees were moved to two weeks ago where they cooked and distributed food and provided Scientology Assists.

Teams of Volunteer Ministers also packed some 5,000 food boxes and delivered them by boat to those stranded by the flood waters.

To join the response team, fill out the disaster relief form on the Volunteer Minister website.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Volunteer Ministers Praised at Scientology Church Grand Opening in Twin Cities

Scientologists, guests, state and city officials assembled in downtown St. Paul, Saturday October 22, for the dedication of the new Church of Scientology Twin Cities.

Scientologists, guests, state and city officials assembled in downtown St. Paul, Saturday October 22, for the dedication of the new Church of Scientology Twin Cities. (Event Images:http://www.ScientologyNews.org ). The Church stands at 505 Wabasha Street and was formerly home to the Science Museum of Minnesota. The acquisition of the 82,000-square-foot facility in the heart of St. Paul was necessitated by the meteoric growth of the resident Scientology community. The Church of Scientology Twin Cities is now the largest Scientology facility in the American Midwest and will serve parishioners from Wisconsin to the Dakotas.

Located just blocks from the State Capitol and St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Church is additionally adjacent to the famed Fitzgerald Theater and so forms an “historic square” of buildings in downtown St. Paul. The premises were carefully renovated to preserve its most memorable features, including the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Wabasha Street and the three-story atrium. Also faithfully preserved was the original 300-seat IMAX Theater, now to serve as the Scientology Chapel and community meeting ground for citizens of all denominations. >>

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Peter Dunn: All in the Name of Help

Australian Scientologist Peter Dunn has served as a Scientology Volunteer Minister in Haiti, Queensland, and Japan.

At 4 a.m. on March 11, 2011, the shock wave from the magnitude 9 earthquake that triggered a 30-foot tsunami off the northeast coast of Japan reached Australia—not as a physical blast but rather as a summons for Scientologist Peter Dunn to return to Japan and help in her time of need.

Dunn, a native of Adelaide who lives in Sydney, had spent the last few months volunteering in the December 2010 Queensland floods, helping residents of Grantham, the town hardest hit, clean up their homes and neighborhoods.

Having lived in Japan for several years when he served as a staff member at the Church of Scientology of Tokyo, Dunn’s strong affinity for the Japanese people and his sense of duty prompted his departure for Japan.

Described by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan as “the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II," the earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 dead or missing, causing an estimated 16.9 trillion yen ($220 billion) in damage and triggering the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

Dunn, who also served for several months in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake, described the scene he encountered in Japan as very different from what he experienced in Port-au-Prince. Although the destruction was worse and more widespread than in Haiti, Japan rebounded, able to quickly leverage far more resources in the relief effort.

As is the custom of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, on arriving in Japan they asked what was needed and wanted and set about providing what was asked. They distributed food and water, worked on the search and rescue operation, and manned shelters. They even arranged bicycle donations so junior high school students could travel over roads still closed to cars and trucks to deliver food and supplies to ill, injured, and elderly residents in and around the city of Kesennuma.

While he was prepared to take on any task needed, Dunn is a Scientology spiritual counselor or auditor—“one who listens,” from the Latin audire, “to hear or listen.” So his main function in Japan was to provide Scientology assists. These are techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that relieve stress and emotional trauma and can speed physical recovery by addressing the spiritual factors in illness and injuries.

“At one shelter, a lady who couldn’t walk when we started rose after a five-minute assist feeling like she wanted to run,” says Dunn. “Another elderly woman was deeply disturbed and told me she expected to die soon. A week later, after daily assists, she had regained her will to live and her enthusiasm and she was bringing life and optimism back to the entire room of 30 survivors in the shelter where she was staying.”

Dunn is proud that in each disaster where he has served, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have addressed the task at hand with industry, willingness and persistence.

“It has been my honor to help hospital-bound amputees in Haiti, polite and gentle Japanese pensioners in homeless shelters, and rough, tough Aussie farmers,” says Dunn. “And each of them know by our actions that we have simply come to help.”

Introduced to Scientology in 1974 when a friend gave him a copy of Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard, Dunn, now 61, found answers he’d long sought about the meaning and purpose of life. What he appreciates most from what he has gained in four decades as a Scientologist is the ability and opportunity to help.

The Scientology Volunteer Minister program was initiated by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1976. There are now hundreds of thousands of people trained in the skills of a Volunteer Minister across 185 nations.

News about the Scientology Volunteer Minister at Blog.VolunteerMinisters.Org!

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

The Work of the Volunteer Ministers Disaster Response in Ishinomaki, Japan, Continued

One volunteer speaks of her experience on the Ishinomaki Volunteer Ministers Team and the effect it has had on her life.

It has been six months since I came to the disaster area. I have been working in the Ishinomaki team ever since.

There are always some foreign volunteers working with us, which can cause some troubles due to the differences in language and culture, particularly because I couldn’t speak English. Thanks to this team, however, I have learned to understand enough English to get by. I call it my “Disaster Overseas Education,” or “studying abroad in disaster areas.”

Many VMs of various backgrounds came to the disaster area—it was a team of unique and dynamic people.

___

Ironically, one thing I gained through this disaster was a better relationship with my father.

I always wanted to improve my relationship with my family, and I wanted to balance family with doing much more for society and humanity.

When the disaster struck I accomplished the second goal—I completely immersed myself in the Volunteer Minister activities. But at a certain point I realized I hadn’t spoken with my parents in quite some time.

I live in Nagano Prefecture, 240 km from my parents in Kyoto, and it sometimes happens that I don’t contact them for quite a while. So when I returned temporarily to Nagano from the disaster zone, I called my parents, only to learn that my 70-year-old father had retired in April.

I have never been able to talk casually with my father, and we rarely speak much when I call. So after talking over the phone, I wrote my parents a letter.

It had always been difficult for me to express my love to them—I even had the idea that I had hated my father but I expressed my gratitude to them—especially to my father—for working to provide for us for such a long time.

I was so surprised when I received a post card from my father in reply. I have written many letters to him—this is the first time he ever replied.

The post card was tightly filled with characters apologizing to me for having acted out of selfishness.

I was so happy to read it, I cried.

___

The need for help in the disaster zone continues.

Please join us in our Volunteer Ministers activities. There is a free shuttle bus from Tokyo. You will see what a positive influence you can have on people and society.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Eastern and Central Africa Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour

Scientology Volunteer Minister on the Eastern and Central Africa Goodwill Tour.

For news on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers blog.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Minister Returns to Haiti to Train Local First Responders

Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman just returned to Spring Valley, New York, after training 100 community-based first responders in Haiti in the fundamentals of first aid, search and rescue techniques, simple solutions to contaminated drinking water, and basic Scientology assists, technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard that speed recovery by addressing the emotional and spiritual factors in illness and injury.

Lindeman, an LPN and 20-year veteran EMT who was a pivotal part of the initial Scientology Haiti Disaster Response, has continued his personal involvement in the recovery of the country by working closely with Haitian-American groups in the United States and by return visits to Haiti to coordinate activities and provide training.

An active partner in the Rockland County Haiti Relief Coalition, Lindeman agreed to conduct the August 2011 training sessions the Coalition organized in Haiti.

Drawing from his experience in the days immediately following the 2010 earthquake, Lindeman’s training focused on methods of providing maximum aide with minimal resources under the most trying conditions.

The patient-care skills he covered included bleeding control, splinting, cervical spine protection and spinal immobilization, and doing this with the kinds of materials a first responder can simply find or create if a similar catastrophe to the January 2011 earthquake should ever occur again.

“One of the most important things to provide is clean drinking water,” says Lindeman. “This is an urgent situation in Haiti.”

To provide solutions to this problem, a key aspect of his training program was educating attendees on simple water purification technology disseminated by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He also covered a very simple re-hydration formula, vital in Haiti today where a cholera epidemic that began in October 2010 is still claiming lives.

The Scientology assists Lindeman trained the first responders to deliver were the Locational Assist and the Nerve Assist. These and other Scientology assists are covered fully in the free online training available through the Volunteer Ministers website.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Action

Scientology Volunteer Ministers have been in Haiti since the January earthquake. Sponsored by a grant by the International Association of Scientologists, they will be there for the long haul.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was created by L. Ron Hubbard in 1976. The motto is "Something CAN be done about it."

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program came into the forefront when a group of VMs spent months at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mr. David Miscavige expressed the gratitude and pride of Scientologists everywhere when he awarded the leaders of that Volunteer Ministers disaster relief action "Freedom Medals" of the International Association of Scientologists. The IAS further acknowledged The Church of Scientology of New York by funding the entire refit and renovation of the New York Org. David Miscavige was the special guest speaker when the New York Org opened in 2004.

Video footage of the grand opening and speeches, including that of David Miscavige, are online at the Scientology website.

Scientologist Assists Doctor in Helping Young Woman

A Scientology Volunteer Minister assists a doctor in Haiti.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Home Page, Free Info. Kit, VMs in Action, Free Courses Online, Interactive Information Center

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Home Page, Free Info. Kit, VMs in Action, Free Courses Online, Interactive Information Center

The Volunteer Minister (VM) program was launched more than thirty years ago, in response to an appeal by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Noting a tremendous downturn in the level of ethics and morality in society, and a consequent increase in drugs and crime, Mr. Hubbard wrote, “If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a VOLUNTEER MINISTER and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”

Scientology Video: Why we help

Scientology Volunteer Ministers African Goodwill Tour

Two lovely ladies from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers African Goodwill Tour.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers News

Here's where you can find news of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Who are the Volunteer Ministers?

Founded by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1970s, the Volunteer Minister program was designed to provide practical Scientology tools and indiscriminate help in an often cynical and cruel world.

Through the ensuing decades, Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs) have provided emergency relief at more than a hundred worst-case scenarios. This includes a corps hundreds strong at Ground Zero within hours of the 9/11 tragedy, more than 500 volunteers from 11 nations in Southeast Asia in the wake of the tsunami, and over 900 Volunteer Ministers attending to victims in Louisiana and Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Rita. In the Haiti earthquake disaster, the Church of Scientology and its parishioners delivered planeloads of much-needed medical and food supplies. In addition they brought hundreds of medical professionals and Volunteer Ministers to help Haitians cope with their losses and rebuild their lives. In consequence of these and a multitude of other disaster relief efforts, Volunteer Ministers have partnered with more than 500 national and international emergency rescue organizations, including the United States Federal Emergency Management Administration and various branches of the United Stated armed forces.

Today there are over 200,000 Scientology Volunteer Ministers, making it one of the largest independent relief organizations in the world. And in the last ten years alone they have helped some 10 million people.

Volunteer Ministers are further equipped to respond in time of personal disaster, providing assistance to repair broken marriages, recover failing students, comfort the bereaved and much, much more. Accordingly, Volunteer Minister Goodwill Tours are now welcomed across 150,000 miles between Africa, Asia, South America and the South Pacific Islands. Volunteer Ministers additionally succor those in need wherever Churches of Scientology stand.

Volunteer Minister assistance is further available through the Volunteer Ministers online. Here one can link to a Volunteer Minister for one-on-one help. One can also enroll in any of nineteen free online courses covering a range of subjects: from Scientology basics, to communication and tools for the workplace.

Anyone with a desire to help others, no matter their faith, can train to become a Volunteer Minister at a Church of Scientology.

As L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “A Volunteer Minister is a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.

“A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence.”

Volunteer Ministers live by the motto that “Something can be done about it.”

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers program inspired by David Miscavige

Nine years ago, after 9/11 the ecclesiastical leader of Scientology, David Miscavige, challenged Scientologists to take the terrorist attacks as a wake-up call and do something effective about changing things on this planet. Since then, Mr. Miscavige launched the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours. Here is an article from the Scientology press office web site on the VMs in the South Pacific.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour Targets Literacy in Papua New Guinea

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

_{The Conchoo Dance Group performs a traditional dance, welcoming the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour to Papua New Guinea.}

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill Tour was officially welcomed by traditional dancers and local dignitaries at a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Murray Army Barracks in Papua New Guinea June 7. Tour members and officials spoke of working to tackle illiteracy and poverty through seminars and courses that the tour will provide at local level throughout the island.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include improving literacy as a pivotal target for eradicating poverty, increasing opportunity and guaranteeing other human rights. Of all Pacific island nations, Papua New Guinea ranks lowest in both literacy and standard of living, with some 30 percent of the population living on a dollar or less a day. To make inroads against this crucial problem, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is providing free seminars and courses to teachers and students across the island.

Established in 1976 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program enables people to better cope with common problems and stresses of life and independently improve their situations. Scientology Churches and Missions provide training in Volunteer Ministers know-how and sponsor Volunteer Ministers activities in their areas.

In 2004, to extend the reach of the Volunteer Ministers program, ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige launched the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tours, enabling teams of volunteers to bring help to remote areas including South and West Africa, Southern Asia, India, the South Pacific, Eastern Europe, Siberia, the Australian Outback, and Latin America.

For more information, visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers website.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

One of my Favorite Volunteer Ministers Videos

This clip from the Today Show really gets across what it's like to be a Scientology Volunteer Minister

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti

Scientology Volunteer Ministers arrived in Haiti the first week after the earthquake in January, but new volunteers continue to arrive, and they are training Haitians in and around Port-au-Prince in Scientology technology who in turn are opening new groups all around the island.

The Church also sent a ship down with supplies, and this shows the arrival of the ship in P.A.P., being unloaded by a team of Scientologist VMs from about 15 nations including 100 Haitian nationals.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers program was developed in 1976 by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. In the wake of 9/11, David Miscavige greatly expanded the scope of the program, which now includes Goodwill Tours throughout the world.



Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology volunteer returns from Haiti

Another great story about a Scientology Volunteer Minister who served in Haiti.

This shows up on the Scientology Today web site:

_{Paris Morfopoulos (far left) with other Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti}

Clearwater, Florida—Paris Morfopoulos, best known to Downtown Clearwater visitors as the calm but cheerful owner of the One Stoppe Shoppe, just returned from a tour of duty as a Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti.

A Volunteer Minister is defined by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard as “…a person who on a strictly volunteer basis helps out his fellow man by providing simple, basic counseling to people he meets to assist them in overcoming difficulties they may be having in life.” Volunteer Ministers are trained in basic Scientology techniques through the Scientology Handbook.

This is Paris’ second trip to the earthquake-damaged country. “I can tell you that there is a lot of enthusiasm and activity in helping to rebuild the shattered country and lives of the Haitian people,” he said. “The physical infrastructure is still in shambles and the rubble seems to be largely still where it was when I was last there in February. But many, many people are pitching in and the work is going forward.”>>

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Kenya Scout leaders use Scientology Volunteer Ministers methods to help in the wake of Uganda mudslides

Search and Rescue

A team of Kenya Scouts who are also Scientology Volunteer Ministers traveled to Uganda last April when massive mudslides killed 94 and displaced 30,000 from their homes. Led by Elly Rajab, 22, the Scouts joined Uganda Army rescue workers in their search for 500 people missing in the flood-affected area.

Arriving in Uganda from Nairobi, Rajab and his team learned from survivors in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and from the Red Cross and the Uganda Army where their help was most needed. With hundreds still missing, the first priority was search and rescue-work that had to be done by hand with shovels and picks, as use of heavy machinery could trigger further landslides on the heavily saturated ground.

The Volunteer Ministers also distributed food and supplies and provided simple but powerful Scientology techniques, called "assists," developed by L. Ron Hubbard to help people in the camps overcome the disorientation and trauma of losing their homes, families and possessions.

In Nairobi, the previous year Rajab had trained as a Scientology Volunteer Minister to gain practical skills that he and his fellow Scout leaders could use to help the people of their country. After completing free online training in communication skills, conflict resolution, organizational basics and other subjects offered at www.volunteerministers.org, in fall 2009 Rajab arranged for Kenya Scout leaders from Mombasa, Marsabit, Kisumu and Nakuru to join him in Nairobi for a series of seminars provided by a Volunteer Minister sent from United States to Kenya. Since the seminars, the Scout leaders have in turn trained hundreds more Scouts in their own regions in Scientology Volunteer Minister technology.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers in action at the Scientology VM Blog

Scientology-sponsored Ship Brings More Than 100 Tons of Supplies to Haiti for the Relief Effort

HAITI—A Scientology-sponsored “Lifeboat to Haiti” arrived in Port-au-Prince April 8, carrying more than 100 tons of urgently needed supplies including medicine, medical equipment, an ambulance, food, cooking stoves and tents.

In the first weeks following the earthquake, the Church of Scientology sponsored five chartered flights, bringing more than 440 doctors, nurses and emergency medical technicians and 280 Scientology Volunteer Ministers to the island, helping more than 200,000 people through their combined efforts in the first two and a half months.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers are in Haiti for the long haul, not only providing disaster relief but also working with local government and civic groups and community leaders who are determined to improve the quality of life for all Haitians.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers work in the IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps providing food, water, and other supplies and training people in Scientology Assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of trauma and stress.

The Volunteers Ministers are also establishing a base in Petionville to provide free training to individuals and groups including teachers, students, disaster relief groups and government agencies. This training addresses the underlying social issues and skills needed to bring about lasting improvement. Seminars and courses include subjects such as communication skills, the basics of organizing and study technology. So far, they have provided seminars and classes to over 8,000 local residents.

For more information on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Haiti Response Team, visit their web site at blog.volunteerministers.org.