Scientology Volunteer Ministers

I bet you take it for granted your house will be there when you get home from work tomorrow. What if it were gone? Just gone?

What if a 3/4-mile-wide twister picked it up like in The Wizard of Oz but unlike Judy Garland you didn't end up in a magical kingdom--you ended up on your own street minus house, car port and garden.

I'll bet you'd really appreciate some yellow-shirted Scientology Volunteer Ministers showing up to help.

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

Spring Valley Mayor Declares July 12 Ralph Mary Gedeon Day

An amazing young man, whose life was saved by a Scientology Volunteer Minister after the Haiti earthquake, is determined to make a difference for his country.

Spring Valley, New York, Mayor Noramie Jasmin has designated July 12, 2011, as Ralph Mary Gedeon Day in recognition of the courage and resolve of a young survivor of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Gedeon, 23, has set his sights on a career as a civil engineer, to help rebuild the infrastructure of the Port-au-Prince region and implement standards that will prevent future natural catastrophes from decimating his country.

Gedeon was buried alive by the Haiti earthquake when his engineering school collapsed on top of him. By the time his father found and dug him out of the rubble, a day and a half had gone by, along with any chance that Gedeon could keep the leg that was crushed by tons of concrete and cinder block.

Despite his miraculous rescue, Gedeon was dying because he was refusing the amputation that might save his life but would leave him a burden to his family. Had he not relented, he would not be alive today.

Gedeon was presented a plaque by Mayor Jasmin at a ceremony in her office. Accompanying him was Rockland County LPN, EMT and Scientology Volunteer Minister Ayal Lindeman. It was Lindeman, volunteering at Port-au-Prince General Hospital as part of the Scientology Haiti Disaster Response, who convinced Gedeon to undergo the amputation on the promise that the young man would be able to live a self-sufficient and valuable life.

Lindeman arranged U.S. hospitalization and surgeries (Dr. David Gibson, St. Raphael’s Hospital, New Haven, CT), rehab and extensive follow-up medical care.

Gedeon walked to his ceremony today “on his own two legs”—one of which is made of steel.

Mayor Jasmin, the first Haitian-American female mayor in the United States, is not the only official impressed by Gedeon’s story. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Congressman Eliot Engel of the Bronx and Ellen Jaffee, who represents Rockland County in the New York Assembly, have all gone out of their way to arrange “humanitarian parole”—the opportunity, extended under rare circumstances for victims of natural disasters and other emergencies, to come to America for life-saving medical care.

Scheduled to finish prerequisite courses at Rockland Community College in Fall 2010, Gedeon will be attending University of Central Florida next year to complete his engineering degree, made possible by a scholarship from ISTAT (International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading) that provided the hospital flight that brought Gedeon to the United States in February 2011. The University is crediting training he completed at the Port-au-Prince engineering school that could have been his grave.

“I want to complete my schooling and return to Haiti to make a positive difference for my people, my country and who knows, maybe even the world.” says Gedeon.

Joplin Tornado Volunteers Share a Perspective —Help is the Bottom Line.Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest difference.

A Volunteer Minister who helped in the wake of the Joplin, Missouri tornado in May 2011 described how much people appreciated his willingness to do some hard work.

For several hours, he and some other volunteers helped a woman dig through the wreckage of her home. She was so grateful about the dishes and glasses they salvage—these were cherished possessions that had belonged to her mother.

One family was thrilled when they recovered the children’s toys. And one of her neighbors was relieved to have them help clear her driveway so she could drive to work.

After helping a woman and her grandson load a trailer with their possessions, they asked if she needed anything else. She said her wedding ring was missing—her late husband had it made for her and she really treasured it. Locating what used to be the master bedroom they began to search. Digging through the debris, first they found her diamond earrings, then more jewelry. When they finally found the wedding ring in a clump of insulation, the 80-year-old grandmother literally jumped for joy.

Two women were laboring unsuccessfully to load their great-grandfather’s table saws and 100-pound drills into a truck. When the Volunteer Ministers got the tools onto the bed of the truck, their helped was rewarded with hugs.

It was physically taxing, but it made a difference to people who really needed a hand after a disaster. The Joplin experience once again confirmed for them that the Volunteer Ministers motto—“Something can be done about it” —is not simply words, it is a way of life.

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

Who are the Scientology Volunteer Ministers?

The Volunteer Minister (VM) program was launched more than thirty years ago, in response to an appeal by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Noting a tremendous downturn in the level of ethics and morality in society, and a consequent increase in drugs and crime, Mr. 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.”"

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