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.
The Volunteer Ministers also 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.
Some residents felt so overwhelmed they had simply given up.
While moving through a neighborhood, VMs saw a woman sitting on her porch, crying. They approached her, but she told them, “Go away. Nothing can be done and everything was ruined.”
A VM sat down with her and got her agreement to let them clean out the house. The VMs removed the trash, aired out the space, cleaned the kitchen and took out damaged furniture.
Concurrently, a VM gave the woman a Scientology assist. Mid the assist, the woman stopped crying and began thanking the VMs effusively. She said, “I had lost hope, but now I see that something can be done to improve all this destruction. I am okay now. I’ll take it from here. You carry on and help the others. God bless you all.”
Another person helped said, “I felt so alone. I was completely overwhelmed and didn’t know how to handle all this. You just showed up and got to work—you didn’t even hesitate.”
This is in keeping with the role that L. Ron Hubbard laid out for the Volunteer Ministers in his article Religious Influence in Society: “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.”
