![\"Scientology](\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/24-1031-s2p-coscleanup-800x600.jpg\")
PHOTO CAPTION: Scientology Volunteer Ministers responded to the needs of the community after two hurricanes ravaged the area.<\/em><\/p>\n
The hurricanes damaged some 40,000 Pinellas County homes<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n Hundreds of volunteers, organized in teams by the Clearwater Volunteer Ministers headquarters, responded to calls to the group\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The volunteers in their bright yellow T-shirts, canvassing neighborhoods to help, were a welcome sight\u2014particularly to seniors, with nearly a quarter of the county\u2019s population aged 65 or older.<\/p>\n Some residents felt so overwhelmed they had simply given up.<\/p>\n 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 up the house. They removed the trash, cleaned up the kitchen, and took out damaged furniture, leaving the home clean and safe. \u201cI had lost hope,\u201d she told the team. \u201cI am okay now. I\u2019ll take it from here.\u201d<\/p>\n The Volunteer Ministers used Scientology assists<\/em>\u2014techniques developed by author and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard to help people overcome the emotional and spiritual aspects of stress and trauma.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt so alone,\u201d said an elderly man. \u201cI am so relieved you came to help me. I was completely overwhelmed. You just showed up and got to work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could never have handled this without you,\u201d said another. \u201cI feel truly blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program<\/a> is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world\u2019s largest independent relief forces.<\/p>\n A Volunteer Minister\u2019s mandate is to be \u201ca person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring purpose, truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.\u201d Their creed: \u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Their motto is no matter the circumstances, \u201cSomething can<\/em> be done about it.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the technology used by the Volunteer Minister, watch Scientology Tools for Life<\/a> and the documentary Operation: Do Something About It<\/em><\/a> on the Scientology Network on DIRECTV 320 or at www.Scientology.tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n LEARN MORE:<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.scientologynews.org\/press-releases\/<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.scientology-fso.org<\/a><\/p>\n VIDEO:<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.scientology.tv\/documentaries\/operation-do-something-about-it.html<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/zB2Kq29A4KQ?si=VFHq28P1eHY6Pkye<\/a><\/p>\n
![https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/24-1031-s2p-coscleanup-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\nPHOTO CAPTION: Scientology Volunteer Ministers responded to the needs of the community after two hurricanes ravaged the area.<\/p>\nTAGS:<\/strong> #HurricaneHelene #HurricaneMilton #ScientologyVolunteerMinisters #Clearwater #PinellasCounty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla., and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Oct. 31, 2024 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8949,"featured_media":121879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[608,12804,19788,14],"tags":[20146,16300],"class_list":["post-121888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-news","category-ap","category-clearwater-business","category-florida-news","tag-hurricane-helene","tag-scientology-volunteer-ministers","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":2024,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8949"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121888"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121890,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121888\/revisions\/121890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/24-1031-s2p-coscleanup-300dpi.jpg\"){kind=link}