Scientology got plenty of photo ops out of hurricanes in Texas and Florida. But did it help? - 2017-09-24

Scientology got plenty of photo ops out of hurricanes in Texas and Florida. But did it help? September 24, 2017, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker

---

Rod Keller brings us up to date on Scientology's response to various natural disasters around the world this past month...

The Scientology Volunteer Minister program claims to be "one of the largest independent relief organizations in the world." They are not that. They are poorly organized and depend on donations to get through each day of a relief mission. They depend on untrained volunteers to re-invent relief procedures for each emergency. The purpose is to show that Scientology is a real religion, but the help that reaches people in emergency conditions is fairly minimal.

When you donate to the American Red Cross or a similar organization for hurricane or earthquake relief, your money will probably be spent for the next emergency and not the current one. Large relief organizations pre-position supplies. The Red Cross has manufactured large supplies of blankets and clothing ahead of an emergency, and donations serve mainly to replenish their reserves. This is good planning and prevents spending to sort out, transport and store donated items. They don't want you to bring them a case of bottled water. They want you to donate money and they can buy water in a more efficient way. The Volunteer Ministers, or VMs work differently. They spent the first few days of the Hurricane Harvey crisis in Houston, Texas assembling cleaning products into kits for distribution.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | author = Tony Ortega | title = Scientology got plenty of photo ops out of hurricanes in Texas and Florida. But did it help? | url = https://tonyortega.org/2017/09/24/scientology-got-plenty-of-photo-ops-out-of-hurricanes-in-texas-and-florida-but-did-it-help/ | work = Underground Bunker | date = September 24, 2017 | accessdate = September 24, 2017 }}