Scientology Commended by Haitian Ambassador to the United States

In a letter presented to the President of the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, on March 2, Haitian Ambassador Raymond A. Joseph expressed “deep appreciation” for the work of the Volunteer Ministers of the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response.

In a letter presented to the President of the Founding Church of Scientology of Washington, DC, on March 2, Haitian Ambassador Raymond A. Joseph expressed “deep appreciation” for the work of the Volunteer Ministers of the Churches of Scientology Disaster Response.

“You all have remained with us daily here at the Embassy, working with our staff and with the members and volunteers of the Greater Washington DC Haiti Relief Committee, giving us support in our time of great grief and confusion, using the Assists developed by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion,” the Ambassador wrote in his letter. “All that you have done and your plans for helping in the longer term will most certainly help us and our people to regain and improve our standing in the world.”

For two months, since the 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, the Church has continued to provide assistance to the Haitian community while more than 200 Scientologists from the United States, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Russia, Japan and other countries have served as Volunteer Ministers in Port-au-Prince. Many Volunteer Ministers who served from one to three weeks in Haiti are returning for longer periods--several months or more--to help in longer-range programs vital to the full recovery of the country.

The first responders provided support in hospitals and clinics to medical teams and delivered food and water to IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and orphanages. Now, with medical personnel having dealt with the most serious injuries, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers are concentrating on construction, setting up sanitation facilities and water purification systems, training disaster response specialists, and providing the local population with Scientology Assists, procedures developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help the individual overcome stress and trauma.

Having sponsored four charter flights that brought medical personnel, Volunteer Ministers and medical supplies to Port-au-Prince, the Church is now sending a ship with more than 160 tons of supplies to Haiti. The Hornbeam, a 896-ton former US Coast Guard ship and icebreaker, with fuel and other costs provided by the Church of Scientology and its members, will carry four pallets of wood stoves and 60 tons of wood pellets donated by the Children and Families Global Development Fund, Inc., a charity founded by Ms. Lola Poisson Joseph, wife of Haitian Ambassador Joseph. It will also be carrying an ambulance for the Port-au-Prince General Hospital and 110 more tons medical and other supplies to go to non-profit aid groups in Haiti. The Hornbeam is scheduled to sail to Haiti in the next days.

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Labels: church of scientology, scientologist, scientologists, scientology, Scientology Volunteer Ministers, volunteer ministers

Georgia State Senator Honors Los Angeles-based Scientology Disaster Response Team for Haiti Service

Georgia State Senator Donzella James presented a resolution to the international director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps in Los Angeles Saturday, acknowledging the group’s Haiti Disaster Response.

In Los Angeles Saturday, Georgia State Senator Donzella James presented Georgia State Resolution SR998 to the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps for “selfless service to the nation of Haiti,” at a meeting of Haiti volunteers at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International in Hollywood.

Senator James acknowledged the Volunteer Ministers recently returned from disaster relief service in Haiti. “On January 12th the earth opened up and swallowed Port-au-Prince and other parts of Haiti. I have been to Haiti and I saw the poverty. I thought nothing could be worse. But you helped when it was even worse than I could ever imagine. You did what you could, unselfishly.”

Some 250 Volunteer Ministers have rotated through Haiti, with 100 currently on the ground, providing logistics support for medical teams in Port-au-Prince General Hospital and the University of Miami Hospital tent.

Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman, also a licensed practical nurse and emergency medical technician, was the backbone of the Haiti relief action. A veteran of 10 disasters, including Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks and Hurricanes Charley, Katrina and Rita, his work organizing the care of the patients at Port-au-Prince General Hospital saved countless lives. Speaking to the assembled Volunteer Ministers, he reminded the Haiti veterans that the job has only started.

Registered Nurse Kimberly Williams, co-owner of Hill Street Community Wellness Center in Los Angeles, wanted to go to Haiti, so when she heard the Church of Scientology was transporting medical personnel, she signed on and left January 21 on a Church-sponsored charter. In Haiti she worked in a clinic near the Presidential Palace, assisting in operations including amputations and other life-saving procedures, and provided urgently needed medical care to more than 400 patients each day.

The international director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps, Ms. Maria Reyher, announced the next phase of Scientology Haiti Disaster Response—a new base in Port-au-Prince that will enable the volunteers to work throughout the rainy season and will include classrooms for seminars, workshops and courses to train first responders in police, military and humanitarian organizations in disaster preparedness.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology that provides community service, disaster relief and emergency response. Created more than 30 years ago by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, the program has expanded to 203,000 Volunteer Ministers worldwide who have served at 161 worst-case disaster sites.

For more information on Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps disaster response, visit blog.volunteerminsters.org.

Labels: Haiti, Scientology Volunteer Ministers, volunteer ministers