PRESS RELEASES
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.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA •
Bridge Publications, publisher of the religious works of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, has been awarded top honors in the Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards of 2012.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA •
Scientologist Alf Garbutt was named Chiropractor of the Year in 2010 by the American Chiropractic Association Rehabilitation Council. He also has won a total of 18 martial arts world championships to date and in 2011 won a record-breaking seven gold medals in a single world championship competition.
Discipline is one of his secrets, and using that discipline to learn and do.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA •
When Zahid Qureshi was introduced to Scientology, it made perfect sense to him. It appealed to his practical nature while satisfying his thirst for the spiritual.
Born and raised in Pakistan, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering, Qureshi came to America in 1970 to do postgraduate work at MIT. But by 1986, a failed marriage and a dead-end job had robbed life of the promise it once held for him.
HAITI •
Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman is carrying out his 6th humanitarian mission to Haiti since the January 2010 earthquake. Since arriving May 14, he has trained more than 1,100 community health personnel, families and first-responders in simple skills that save lives.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA •
Alison Osborn considers herself truly lucky, with an ideal marriage and a career she loves.
SOLOMON ISLANDS •
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers South Pacific Goodwill Tour has completed a series of seminars on Study Technology developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. Delivering to teachers and students from 31 schools in Guadalcanal, the volunteers addressed education as the key issue to improve conditions for the island.
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA •
Scientologist Julieta Santagostino is director of the Florida chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
Fashion designer Julieta Santagostino, 28, is the driving force behind the Florida chapter of Foundation for a Drug-Free World. Her profile is one of more than 200 “Meet a Scientologist” videos on the Scientology website at www.scientology.org.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA •
Freedom Magazine Special Report Wins DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award of Excellence
Known for its investigative reporting in the public interest, Freedom Magazine, the human rights journal of the Church of Scientology, has been awarded a Religion Communicators Council (RCC) DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award of Excellence for its 2011 Special Report, The New Yorker: What a Load of Balderdash.
INTERNATIONAL •
The Adventure of Dianetics began 62 years ago today.
On May 9, 1950, a movement was launched with these words by L. Ron Hubbard: “Dianetics is an adventure. It is an exploration into Terra Incognita, the human mind, that vast and hitherto unknown realm half an inch back of our foreheads.” He further invited readers to “Treat it as an adventure. And may you never be the same again.” Millions have done just that.