Australian Volunteer Ministers rally for Haiti disaster relief

January 25, 2010

Scientology Volunteer Ministers rallied on Sunday at their headquarters in Glebe to support the disaster relief effort in Haiti, in preparations for sending volunteers from Australia to Haiti this week to join medical professionals and about 100 disaster response trained Volunteer Ministers who are already on the ground.

The Church has already transported 251 MDs, nurses, EMTs and rescue workers and 100 Volunteer Ministers to Haiti last week. The third charter flight left from JFK Airport for Port-au-Prince on Saturday, with doctors and nurses from the Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad and the Elizabeth Marie Pierre Centre for Humanity, Inc., Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) from the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Scientology Volunteer Ministers. Australian Volunteer Ministers will fly to Los Angeles to join other volunteer ministers from around the world and head to Haiti on the fourth Scientology-sponsored chartered plane.

Miami-based Prudential Aviation donated the use of the aircraft for the three charter flights, and the International Association of Scientologists provided funds for the fuel and covered all other costs. The flights are scheduled regularly to take more medical teams, supplies and Volunteer Ministers who are lending their hands from all over the world.

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Corps is an embracive program of the Church of Scientology to provide 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 145 worst-case disaster sites, including Victorian bushfires, Ground Zero after 9/11, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.