Preparing for the next hurricane

It looks like everyone is getting ready for Hurricane Rita. We have our own evacuation plans prepared in case we need to evacuate. If we don't need to evacuate, that will be good, as we will be ready to go right into whatever area gets hit and help those people out.

Lots of the Volunteer Ministers here have moved out to Mississippi, where they have not gotten much help from elsewhere.

Here's what one VM had to say about another Volunteer Minister named Marie:

On Saturday Marie and her team completed the what no other shelter group in the entire State of Louisiana had done. They were given 24/7 responsibility for over 350 evacuees and made comfortable in their shelters, handled their basic needs, gave them assists (thereby bringing relief from the trauma and upset of their ordeal), helped them to confront and deal with their new situations, brought one woman who flat-lined back to life with proper assists, and then assisted all 350 to find homes and relocate out of the shelters!

Marie and her team has earned my endearing admiration. She and her team have earned commendations from many community and governmental groups (3 examples are attached). They have been acknowledged by FEMA, Homeland Security, the Sheriff's Department, the City Police, the Mayor, townspeople, and others. Their accomplishments have been chronicled in the press and on TV. Look at this:


The Mayor of the City of Lafayette has announced that the City is proclaiming the month of October as Scientology Month in acknowledgement of the valuable contributions and work that the Scientology Volunteer Ministers have done for the City of Lafayette and the Parish!

Here's one example of how determined Marie and her team are to get out their products:

… we had one last family to find a home for… two VM’s literally walked the streets looking for a home for this lady and her family… we were totally determined to get this done and achieve our product here in Vermilion parish… as they walked down numerous streets they noticed one house that was all dark inside… they went door to door to find the owner and found her across the street… a 91 year old lady who is legally blind… they explained what was needed and wanted… negotiated the lease… gave her the deposit and got the resident over to the house to see it… then the problem became… no electricity … it’s now 6:30 PM Saturday night… I immediately got onto the phone to find the mayor to handle this… he wasn’t available… but in my trusty little phone list I had the cell phone for the mayor’s secretary… got her on the phone and told her what I needed for the electricity… only took her 1 hour to handle and she got the utility company out to hook up the electricity… whew!... but then… no water!.... called her back and it’s now 8 PM Saturday night…. Now I’m really asking a lot… within 30 minutes…. BAM! Water is on!... Now all I have to figure out is where to get trucks to move the family in… another 30 minutes… BAM! (starting to sound like Chef Emeril Legasses aren’t I? oh.. you may not know him… a famous New Orleans chef who always says… "BAM!")…. Now I have trucks moving her in… don’t know any other town in the US that could have pulled that off for us… the lady at the utility company was so sweet… she told me she got it done fast so I could go get some sleep tonight! (only in South Louisiana!)


We are now officially done with the shelters… every single person… with jobs and a new home or back with their family members… what a cycle…

Well, at that point Marie thought she was done until Homeland Security called to ask the Scientology Volunteer Ministers to take over another shelter where the evacuees were not being properly taken care of and staged a "revolt". Of course she did this and immediately calmed them down and reestablished a productive and peaceful environment.

Now she has a bit more work to do :-) The police are helping by looking for vacant homes all over the parish and contacting Marie's team so that the owners can be contacted. No stone unturned! Also she's teaming a mobile home sale company with some vacant land - more homes for evacuees!