As Portland Plans to Reopen, Scientologists Stress Prevention

Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology of Portland are helping ensure a safe and healthy reboot to the city’s economy.

With Multnomah County readying to move into Phase 1 of reopening, prevention assumes even greater importance than before. Scientology Volunteer Ministers have been visiting local businesses with complimentary copies of Stay Well booklets that provide effective measures and information on what their customers can do to keep themselves and others well. 

The graphics and simple language of the booklets make it easy to understand how viruses and bacteria spread and show why preventive measures such as face masks and social distancing are important.

Shops take sets of booklets and display them for their customers. At one restaurant, the manager put them right at the entrance. The owner of a food cart had no place for a display but took a box to place copies of the booklet in each of the orders he filled. “If people know what’s in these, they will be a lot healthier and safer,” said the manager of one of the restaurants they visited.

“Everyone is focused on reopening,” said one of the Volunteer Ministers. “The people we spoke to immediately saw the importance of getting this information to their customers to make sure we can get the economy going again without a hitch.”

The Portland Volunteer Ministers are part of a global initiative to help communities stay well. 

The How to Stay Well Prevention Center on the Scientology website makes these materials broadly available in 20 languages. The booklets can be read on the website or downloaded. More than a dozen brief videos illustrate the key information, making it easy to understand what a virus is, how it spreads, and the actions anyone can take to protect themselves and their families.

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Worldwide distribution of these booklets began in May in communities around Scientology Churches and Missions across the globe. The Church of Scientology International Dissemination and Distribution Center made this possible by printing and shipping 5 million copies of Stay Well booklets. 

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the largest and most visible international independent relief forces. The Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.”