PRESS RELEASES
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS •
This summer, volunteers from the Church of Scientology are taking aim against drugs in the Waterland and Zaan region of the Netherlands, where teen drug abuse runs well above national averages. In this area, one in five youths ages 13 – 17 have used drugs—one in 11 in the past month alone.
LOS GATOS, CALIFORNIA •
On Saturday, July 28, fifteen hundred Scientologists from across the San Francisco Bay Area gathered to rededicate the Church of Scientology Los Gatos.
MADRID, SPAIN •
For the first time, the Scientology religion is included in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española de la Real Academia Española (Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Academy of Spain) or DRAE, the most authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language. Produced, edited, and published by the Royal Spanish Academy since 1780 and now in its 22nd edition, it defines Scientology religion as a “religious movement originating in the United States, which aims to promote awareness through certain introspective techniques.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS •
On the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Ground Zero cleanup operation, Scientologist Caralyn Percy remembers 9/11/01.
Scientologist Caralyn Percy’s rendition of “Everyday Heroes” by Geoff Levin and Harriet Schock is a tribute to rescue and recovery workers of Ground Zero, New York. If it resonates with a compassion born of experience, it’s because Percy was there.
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA •
The Church of Scientology Community Center of South Los Angeles hosted a special performance June 24, the fifth annual concert of “Love-in-Music,” a nonprofit organization that introduces underserved children of the Los Angeles area to the joys of classical music.
INTERNATIONAL •
Active in drug education and prevention throughout the year, Scientologists around the world participated in United Nations Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking
WASHINGTON, D.C. •
The empowerment of knowing how to know.
Scientologist Patricia Gore is a “first” lady.
She was the first in her family to finish college and receive a master’s degree, first to move away from home, first to work eight years for the Congress of the United States—during the Carter and Reagan administrations, and the first Black ever to have achieved the State of Clear on African soil.
TAMPA, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Paola Martinez, working to make human rights a fact.
Scientologist Paola Martinez, Human Rights Coordinator of the Church of Scientology Tampa, hosted the second annual Colors of the World Fair Trade Fashion Show for Human Rights June 9—one of the many programs she participates in to raise awareness on human right issues and bring an end to abuse in Tampa, Florida, and around the world.
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA •
Students at the Lord Baden Powell Memorial School in Dar es Salaam earn certificates from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Africa Goodwill Tour
A special graduation June 13 at the Lord Baden Powell Memorial School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, acknowledged students who completed Disaster Response Specialist Training through the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Africa Goodwill Tour.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK •
More than a thousand Buffalo Area Scientologists gathered on Saturday, June 30, to celebrate the rededication of the Church of Scientology Buffalo.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA •
Amid a burst of confetti and a flight of balloons, the ribbon was parted on the new Church of Scientology Ideal Organization of Phoenix on Saturday, June 23. More than 1,500 Scientologists, neighbors and dignitaries joined Church officials for the dedication ceremony.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Sherry Van Hootegem says Scientology gives her the tools to gets things done.
Sherry Van Hootegem isn’t particularly looking for trouble—but if trouble comes her way, she is never one to turn her back and pretend it isn’t there. And when it came to the North Greenwood neighborhood of Clearwater, Florida, trouble had been brewing for quite some time.
“I own some property in the community and when I found there were drugs being sold right on the street it made me mad,” she says.
WASHINGTON, D.C. •
Scientologist Niko Papaheraklis is the Director of Youth for Human Rights, Washington D.C. chapter, and has traveled around the world to promote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Dividing his time between work, volunteering and Scientology, in Panama, Washington, D.C., and Clearwater, Florida, Niko Papaheraklis is a focused and fun-loving 26-year-old ball of energy.
DENVER, COLORADO •
On Saturday, June 16, more than a thousand Scientologists, guests, and state and city dignitaries assembled in Lower Downtown Denver to dedicate a new Church of Scientology.
FORT HARRISON, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
In celebration of Pinellas County’s centennial, Tampa Bay residents gathered at the Church of Scientology’s Fort Harrison on June 2nd for an Evening of Jazz, featuring jazz legend Chick Corea.
GARDEN RING, MOSCOW, RUSSIA •
At a round table at the Church of Scientology Moscow May 29 Church staff introduced legislators, community and civic leaders to the life and work of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard through the pages of a new 16-volume biographical encyclopedia.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA •
Thousands of Bay Area Scientologists gathered on Saturday, June 9, to celebrate the rededication of the Church of Scientology Stevens Creek in San Jose.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist and artist Gracia Bennish, creating a better world.
In a unique meld of art and activism, Gracia Bennish leaves her mark in unexpected places.
A true citizen of the world, Bennish, who lives with husband Garry in Clearwater, Florida, was born and raised in Detroit, has lived in the United States, Australia, Europe and Mexico, and has worked or volunteered in Haiti, Baghdad, Myanmar, Africa, Thailand, Cuba and Colombia.
LONDON, ENGLAND •
Visitors to London for the June 3 Thames Jubilee Pageant honoring the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee found hospitality, refreshments and respite from the driving rain and unseasonably cold temperatures at the daylong open house at the 146 Queen Victoria Street home of the Church of Scientology London.
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA •
On Saturday, June 2, city and state dignitaries joined thousands of Scientologists in downtown Santa Ana to dedicate the new Church of Scientology of Orange County.