Churches of Scientology Disaster Response » Volunteer Ministers

What Medical Professionals Have to Say About the Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti

@volunteer_dc — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:54:59 +0000

Since 17 January 2010, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have been helping the Haitian population in every way needed. Now, six weeks after the earthquake there are still over 100 Scientology Volunteer Ministers on the ground in Haiti arranging logistics and supplies while helping to build shelters and improving living conditions. Their contribution has been received well by medical professionals and other aid workers, and the video below tells their story:

To find out more about how to help, contact the Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Washington, D.C here.

Video: Church of Scientology Sends Next Wave of Medical Personnel, Volunteers to Haiti

@volunteer_dc — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:06:15 +0000

A dozen DC-area volunteers are en route to Haiti, on the fifth aid flight to Haiti, chartered by the Church of Scientology. Watch the video here.

Channel 7 News reports:

Nearly 50 doctors, nurses and EMT’s flying out from Miami International Airport to the quake devastated region of Port-au-Prince. The trip is being sponsored by the Church of Scientology. About 40 disaster response trained volunteer ministers will also be aboard. "We wanted to bring some medical expertise there and we would support them in what they were doing, because were talking long hours," said Church Of Scientology volunteer Pat Harney.

They’ll be assisting with medical care and providing supplies. "Every person who has come has made a difference. The efforts feel so small in the light of such devastation, but every bit helps," said physician assistant Dianne Bush.

This is the fifth flight the Church of Scientology has chartered to help with the relief efforts in Haiti.

U.S. Special Forces Blog Tells of Hard-Working Scientology Volunteers

@volunteer_dc — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:37:49 +0000

A U.S Special Forces blogger working in Haiti wrote a particularly frank and moving blog post yesterday which illustrates well the selfless hard work being done in Haiti by our volunteers, working in concert with the many dedicated medical, military and volunteer personnel on the ground. He writes:

My team and I are preparing for another launch into Haiti. The work is tiring, hours are long, but probably some of the most rewarding I have ever been involved with. As I previously wrote, the act of kindness and selfless service are abundant in Haiti. Everyday men and women working countless hours to aid the Haitian people and bring a level of humanity to this inhuman situation. Amazing to witness…

I want to shed some light to a group that is often ridiculed and mostly miss-understood. As my team and I worked to secure the University of Miami field hospital (in Port of Prince), we were approached by a group (no less than 20) of young people, all donning bright yellow t-shirts. Their shirts displayed their church affiliation. No, not a Baptist church, not a Catholic church, not even a Christian organization but instead they were all members of the Church of Scientology.

Yes, the same Scientology that seems to be the latest in celebrity fads and so laughed by those of us whom have more “conventional” backgrounds when it comes to religion. After me and the other pipe-hitters joked a bit, it became apparent that these young people were here to assist us and render aid to the suffering. We were asked by the hospital administrator to employ these volunteers in yellow; and like any good Special Forces troop, we found work for our newest grunts. Immediately we had theses young believers of a different power cleaning bed-pans, escorting patients between wards, stacking the endless ocean of relief surplus and simply doing some really tough work. With a smile on their faces and a warmth for the suffering, these young people executed each task in a manner all of us as Americans would be proud.

Day after day they entered the camp (0700 hrs), yellow shirts fading daily from the previous day’s work but they never stopped or even slowed. Never a mal-word, never questioning our request (ok, sometimes our requests sounded like orders being barked) but always doing whatever was required to assist the people of Haiti. My team and I had the opportunity to talk with many of the Scientologist volunteers. Of course there were a few jokes, (SF-types always like to pick-fun at folks different from us) and to be honest they could dish it out as well as they receive it; but what a group of people! Religious beliefs aside (Hell, I really have no clue on what they believe in; only what I have read or heard about through media channels) these guy and girls are OK by me. They lived the selfless service motto; never questioning, always doing for others. Day after demanding day.

We all have differing values, beliefs and ethos we live by. I may not understand the Scientology church (if it is even referred to as a church) but I can attest to the fact that theses volunteers in once bright and now fading yellow shirts are a credit to whatever affiliation they serve. Their higher power has directed these young people to serve, just as my team and thousands continue to do in this terrible environment. It was my pleasure to meet and serve alongside the volunteers for the Scientology Church. Different beliefs / All American!

Inside Look at Scientology Volunteers in Haiti on the NBC Today Show

@volunteer_dc — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:26:20 +0000

The NBC Today Show featured a excellent and very personal view of the hard work and help the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are delivering in Haiti.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is a program of the Church of Scientology providing 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 175 worst-case disaster sites, including Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake disaster.

Since the disaster struck in Haiti, Scientology Volunteer Ministers from all over the world, including several from Washington, D.C., have put aside their work to travel to Haiti and volunteer. Over 150 Scientology Volunteer Ministers are active in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and thus far have:

helped over 37,000 people, including hundreds of orphans
arranged and delivered over 38,600 tons of food and medical supplies
served more than 3,150 meals

For more information on the program, and how you can help, contact us here.

John Travolta Flies Virginia Volunteer Back from Haiti

@volunteer_dc — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:28:36 +0000

NBC News in Washington just posted a story of a local Virginia lawyer who went to Haiti to help, and was flown back by Scientologist John Travolta on his personal aircraft. Our volunteers working with the Greater Washington Haiti Relief Committee and the Embassy of Haiti, who have been working tirelessly since the beginning to organize flights, supplies & volunteers to Haiti.

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcwashington.com/video.

The story from NBC follows:

After five emotionally-wrenching days volunteering in Haiti, Virginia lawyer Ramcess Jean-Louis stood at Port-au-Prince airport awaiting his flight back to the U.S. That plane carried the final surprise of his trip: Actor John Travolta was piloting the aircraft Jean-Louis was about to board.

Before the plane turned for home, Jean-Louis helped Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, unload cargo.

"He was very hands on," Jean-Louis said of Travolta. "He was unpacking the airplane, really in command of the situation. When he came down with additional supplies and another team of doctors, he made sure the doctors got everything they needed."

Jean-Louis’ decision to jump into the relief effort came shortly after the earthquake hit.

Though he was born in Brooklyn, his parents came from Haiti and he has many relatives still living there.

"You just have to deal with a sense of helplessness, and I didn’t enjoy that feeling during Katrina and I didn’t enjoy it during 9/11," he said.

So Jean-Louis immediately began volunteering at the Haitian Embassy. Professionally, he’s the general counsel for a building maintenance company in Alexandria called TK Services. Every night after work, he’d head to the embassy.

A week ago, he received an urgent call.

"They said, ‘You have to get on a plane if you want to get down there,’" he said. "It took me by surprise. Actually having the opportunity standing in front of me made me a little apprehensive."

But Jean-Louis raced to Philadelphia, caught a flight to Miami and then joined other volunteers on a flight to Haiti. He spent five days there, starting his work at the hospital, assisting patients and distributing medical supplies and food.

Jean-Louis also was able to locate his relatives. One cousin died, but the rest survived.

Jean-Louis hopes to return to Haiti soon, possibly by next month.

"I’m of the thought that Haitians have to lead the recovery and we have to be in control of our story and how this redevelopment is going to take place," he said. "I’m confident that’s going to happen with the help of the international community."

To find out how you can help, contact us here.

Fox Video: Scientology Volunteers Arranging Flight to Haiti

@volunteer_dc — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:43:53 +0000

The above video was just featured on Fox Channel 5 News, along with the following release:

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.

The Church of Scientology says it has another flight chartered Monday from Tampa. Volunteers at the embassy’s makeshift crisis command center were soliciting donations of medical supplies and medicines to be sent to Haiti.

The volunteers are also trying to line up physicians and other medical professionals to join the missions to Haiti.

If you wish to go to Haiti to assist, or otherwise wish to help in the relief efforts, contact us here. We are currently looking for medical doctors who can go on a flight which will be flying to Haiti on Monday from Tampa, Florida. If you are interested in going, or know if someone who may be able to go to Haiti for a week or longer, contact us.

Scientology-Sponsored Charter Flight Brings Medical and Spiritual Aid to Haiti

@volunteer_dc — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:20:36 +0000

A charter flight organized by the Church of Scientology carried 133 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 7.3 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.

The group arrived in Port-au-Prince Sunday afternoon, after spending the night in Miami due to delayed departure from JFK as a result of the security alert that closed the airport Saturday afternoon.

Upon arrival in Haiti, the group was escorted to an area of the city where non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and relief organizations are headquartered. They met with officials of other relief organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, to coordinate their efforts and to bring their reinforcements to the greatly overtaxed medical teams.

Teams of Scientology Volunteer Ministers from throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe and elsewhere 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.

Volunteers Needed for Haiti Disaster Response

@volunteer_dc — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:56:54 +0000

The Churches of Scientology 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 100,000. 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 here, or call our disaster response hotline at 202-534-4805.

Volunteer Ministers are also being called to help give grief couseling and Assists to the local Greater Washington DC area Haitian community and to lend support and care to the Haitian community by participating in their local events including church services and candle light vigils. The Volunteer Ministers coordinator stated that, “the Haitian people are a strong and resilient people, but we must stand with them in their time of great need. There is much sadness which needs to be overcome and by standing in solidarity and with a shoulder to shoulder effort we will over come the great barriers to healing their nation.”