Helping Neighbors Recover From Back-to-Back Hurricanes

Hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers (VMs) responded to help Pinellas County neighbors cope with the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton

It had been more than a century since Florida’s Pinellas County sustained a direct hit from a hurricane, but that changed on September 26, when Hurricane Helene tore through the area. Two weeks later, Hurricane Milton slammed through the county. Scientology Volunteer Ministers responded to help their community cope and recover from the impact of these unprecedented storms.

The hurricanes damaged some 40,000 Pinellas County homes. Hundreds of thousands of households lost power. Winds up to 140 mph drove rain and debris through cracks in windows, tore off roofs, flooded basements, downed hundreds of trees and drove sand inland from the beach, slamming it against houses and into roadways. 

Hundreds of volunteers, organized in teams by the Clearwater Volunteer Ministers headquarters, responded to calls to the group’s helpline or moved through the county to check on local residents, deliver ice and fresh water, clear roads and remove mud, debris, damaged furniture, rain- or flood-damaged rugs, and wallboard from homes to prevent mold contamination.

 

The volunteers in their bright yellow T-shirts, canvassing neighborhoods to help, were a welcome sight—particularly to seniors, with nearly a quarter of the county’s population aged 65 or older.

Some residents felt so overwhelmed they had simply given up. 

At one home, when the Volunteer Ministers approached, the woman who lived there was despondent: everything was ruined, she said. One of the volunteers gained her permission to clean out the house. They removed the trash, cleaned up the kitchen, and took out damaged furniture, leaving the home clean and safe. “I had lost hope,” she told the team. “I am okay now. I’ll take it from here.”

The Volunteer Ministers used Scientology assists—techniques developed by author and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to help people overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of stress and trauma.

“I felt so alone,” said an elderly man. “I am so relieved you came to help me. I was completely overwhelmed. You just showed up and got to work.”

“You came and got right to work. I could never have handled this without you,” said another. “I feel truly blessed.”

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world’s largest independent relief forces.

A 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.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”

Their motto is no matter the circumstances, “Something can be done about it.”

For more information on the technology used by the Volunteer Minister, watch Scientology Tools for Life and the documentary Operation: Do Something About It on the Scientology Network on DIRECTV 320 or at www.Scientology.tv.