When 9/11 hit, a lot of my friends and I were really brought up short. It was such a shock that something like this could happen in America. I thought, at first, this was going to change America forever. It really didn't impact things as much as I thought it would. People went back to being complacent, and life went on (even though we've actually been at war ever since!).

But for Scientologists it actually made a huge impact and change.

For one thing, and probably the main thing, the leader of our religion, David Miscavige, issued a letter to all Scientologists that he called "the Wake-Up Call." In it he pointed out that 9/11 brought home that we have to do something urgently and at once to reverse the downward spiral in our country and the world. He urged every Scientologist to do more.

Since then, there has been a huge increase in the amount Scientologists have been volunteering. And one key way has been in field of disaster relief, with Scientology Volunteer Ministers helping at virtually every major disaster since.

And it is the kind of help no one else can give, really. Because of the technology L. Ron Hubbard developed to help a person overcome trauma, there are thousands, tens or thousands, maybe even millions of people today who have come through disasters without the long term debilitating effects this kind of incident usually causes in one's life.

The a couple of years ago David Miscavige announced a real coup. Training in this kind of disaster relief work is now available online on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site. This means, if you can access the Internet, you can learn to help people overcome trauma. That sure makes it possible to outreach far, far more. Pretty incredible.

News about the Scientology Volunteer Minister at Blog.VolunteerMinisters.Org!

Four months doesn't seem that long ago. It was just February that this team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers left for Haiti from Miami. It was covered by local TV stations.

So much has changed in Haiti, but one thing remains true--they still need help. More than 1.5 million people are still stranded, homeless, living in IDP camps. The enormity is daunting.

News about the Scientology Volunteer Minister at Blog.VolunteerMinisters.Org!

Scientology Volunteers Establish Headquarters for Haiti

Pétionville, Haiti—The Church of Scientology International Volunteer Ministers opened a new headquarters Saturday, signaling a new level of commitment to the people of Haiti in rebuilding their country. Located just east of Port-au-Prince, the new headquarters will facilitate the staging and coordination of operations, and provide temporary housing for volunteers from outside Haiti.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit just west of the capital city of Port-au-Prince January 12 killed an estimated 200,000, injured 300,000 and left one million homeless. By January 17 Scientologists had orchestrated the arrival of 130 doctors, nurses, EMTs and Volunteer Ministers in Haiti. Working with United Nations and U.S. Army personnel at the country’s main airfield, initial actions included organizing and dispatching personnel and supplies. But within hours, the volunteers were manning hospital tents, supply lines, and search and rescue teams.

Operating on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers motto “Something CAN be done about it” the Scientology volunteers concentrate on bringing order into the immediate chaos of a disaster site and alleviating trauma through the use of Scientology Assists, “spiritual first aid” that speeds physical and emotional recovery. In alignment with their motto, Volunteer Ministers also bring a myriad of personal skills to a disaster zone, such as the trained midwife who helped deliver a baby less than a day after she arrived in Port-au-Prince, and six more over the next week, in dilapidated buildings amid aftershocks, electrical outages.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers have provided disaster relief around the globe for more than 20 years. In Haiti, over 300 from 22 countries answered the call for disaster relief and 3,000 Haitians have joined them in their efforts. Together they have brought physical and spiritual relief and order back into the lives of an estimated 360,000 Haitians.

Maria Reyher, International Director of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, says the new Haiti headquarters gives a new level of stability and service potential to their relief and recovery activities in Haiti. “Thousands of Haitian people want to be involved in bettering the plight of their country and we have workable tools to help them,” says Reyher. “They face many rudimentary and complex problems and our new headquarters provides a stable place to make it possible to help them on an even wider scale.”

For more information on Scientology Volunteer Ministers activities in Haiti visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers blog.

News about the Scientology Volunteer Minister at Blog.VolunteerMinisters.Org!