Historic response by Volunteer Ministers brought exceptional disaster relief, as quakes, floods and hurricanes ravaged millions across the world.
During disaster-crazy 2017, Hurricane Irma turned from an African rainstorm into one of the most brutal hurricanes in recorded history.
Irma’s was a methodical journey: shredding barrier island pueblos along Cuba’s north coast, crushing islands across the Caribbean and, the moment she winked northward, sparking an extraordinary evacuation of millions from Florida.
Clearwater Scientology Volunteer Ministers, in their signature yellow shirts, braving the first gales while boarding store windows of Downtown merchants and, after hunkering—while a storm wider than the state itself cruised by—emerging as first responders with water, gasoline, shelter, first aid and food for thousands of people without power. Next they cleansed Irma’s afterbirth—downed tree detritus and seaweed smothering every inch of the tempest’s trail, from Naples to the state line.
Then came Maria and Mexico’s earthquake—making 2017 the Volunteer Ministers’ busiest year ever!
