Helping Communities in Time of Disaster—Together

To provide the best possible service to those in need when disaster strikes, Scientology Volunteer Ministers of Florida attended the 2018 National Hurricane Conference to share their programs and coordinate activities with disaster response groups and organizations.

Those attending the 2018 National Hurricane Conference at the Orlando Hilton Conference Center March 27 couldn’t miss the bright yellow tent with the motto of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers—“Something can be done about it.”

The Volunteer Ministers were there to participate as an exhibitor and meet with other groups and agencies to coordinate activities to better serve communities in need.

“Our volunteers are trained in the technology for handling life, developed by Scientology Founder and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard,” says Glendy Goodsell, executive director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Florida Chapter. “We are trained in how to organize and get production going, which is vital in a disaster zone. Volunteer Ministers are skilled in providing immediate relief to victims, giving them a brighter outlook and enabling them to start putting their lives back together.”

Volunteer Minister training is available online free of charge—19 courses including Solutions for a Dangerous Environment, Assists for Illnesses and Injuries and Basics of Organizing, which contain vital information for anyone working on a disaster site.

“Volunteer Ministers are skilled in providing immediate relief to victims, giving them a brighter outlook and enabling them to start putting their lives back together.”  

In last year’s devastating hurricane season in the United States and the Caribbean, Volunteer Ministers were on the ground working tirelessly to bring relief to those in need.

“Coordinating with other groups through such programs as the National Hurricane Conference and Florida’s Governor’s Hurricane Conference in May,” says Goodsell, “will enable us to be even better prepared to deliver what’s needed rapidly and efficiently.”

The Volunteer Ministers’ yellow T-shirts and their willingness and skill have become their hallmark at hundreds of disaster sites around the world—fire, flood, landslide, shooting or terrorist attack, tornado, earthquake, or hurricane. 

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Minister program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by L. Ron Hubbard. Anyone of any culture or creed may train as a Volunteer Minister and use these tools to help their families and communities. The Church provides free online training on the Volunteer Ministers website.

In creating the Volunteer Ministers program, L. Ron 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.”