In the Wake of Disaster’s Fury: Florida Volunteers Speed Aid and Supplies to Survivors

Volunteer Ministers unloading a truck of badly-needed supplies in Louisiana.

Now a disaster of historic proportions, on Sunday, August 28, Katrina was still a Category 1 Hurricane and the battle to protect property and lives was localized in South Florida.

There, Scientology Volunteer Ministers—maneuvering through rain-slicked roads, flooded streets and fallen trees—joined with emergency relief organizations and the National Guard in dispensing food, water and other necessities to Dade County storm victims. To address the exhaustion and spiritual trauma, they provided assists* day and night to tired workers and distraught residents.

Katrina moved on, picking up speed and strength over the warm Gulf waters before barreling toward Louisiana and Mississippi as a Category 4 behemoth.

Long before Katrina reached the Gulf Coast, the experienced volunteers knew the need for their help would be dire. And before the extent of Katrina’s havoc was fully known, a caravan of Florida Volunteer Ministers was already en route to emergency relief operations in Louisiana, while their counterparts in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vermilion Parish had swung into action in anticipation of these and other reinforcements.

Arriving in Baton Rouge on August 31, the Florida teams joined forces with the local Volunteer Ministers who, by then, were in the thick of relief efforts for tens of thousands of evacuees from New Orleans and coastal parishes. The Church of Scientology Mission of Baton Rouge, converted into a Disaster Response staging center, was the focal point for local relief efforts and arriving volunteers from around the United States. Within a week, more than 500 Volunteer Ministers were in action at Louisiana refugee shelters in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans and Vermilion Parish.

For the seasoned Scientology Disaster Response Team, headed by Judy Fagerman of Tampa and joined by Volunteer Minister units worldwide, this is a well-established drill: they set to work organizing and providing for the immediate needs of the victims, securing shelter, bedding, showers, food, water and medical help.

But it was their reputation for spiritual aid that preceded them. No sooner had they arrived than a Baton Rouge doctor sought the assistance of the Volunteer Ministers to provide trauma counseling to thousands of dispossessed people arriving at the city’s Centroplex convention center relief site.

Reuniting Families

Fagerman’s team in Baton Rouge quickly showed their trademark “Something can be done about it” drive and determination.

In addition to their relief actions, they worked constantly to reunite members of families that had been separated in the evacuation of devastated communities. An 11-year-old girl named Andrea arrived at the Baton Rouge Centroplex from New Orleans without her parents and with nothing more than the clothes she was wearing. “She had been in grief for days, so we helped her immediately with assists, and they calmed her down,” said Fagerman. “Then we set about solving her parents’ whereabouts.”

Fagerman continued, “Shortly after I learned of Andrea’s plight, I was interviewed by Fox reporter Molly Henneberg, who had heard lots of good reports about our relief work. I told Molly I had a young girl separated from her family, and asked her if she could assist by announcing separated family members so they could be identified on the air and, hopefully, reunited. ‘Absolutely,’ she said.

“Molly interviewed Andrea and in a moving plea, asked for her parents to contact her. The piece aired immediately. Later in the day, Andrea came up to me, grabbed my arm and, with tears of joy in her eyes, said, ‘I just got off the phone with mom and I’m moving to Dallas.’ Her parents had been relocated to Texas and saw her on Fox News. Twenty minutes later, an elated Molly called me on my cell, ‘That family is going to be reunited,’ she told me. ‘Together, we helped to reunite a family—thank you!’

“There couldn’t have been a better way to end the day.”

Some of the Florida team found themselves in Lafayette, helping local Volunteer Ministers after area authorities requested they lead disaster relocation operations in an entire parish south of the city. As a result of their work, the local sheriff, Michael Couvillon, distributed an official communiqué urging all civil authorities to avail themselves of the Volunteer Ministers’ effective services.

“The international Scientology Disaster Response Team has worked at Ground-Zero during 9-11, assisting clean-up and aid after the Tsunami, and was a major force in every hurricane to hit Florida in the last three years,” Couvillon wrote.

“They are experts in handling human misery and assisting the rescue workers and other relief teams to get the job done.”

The International Scientology Volunteer Minister hotline has received more than 300 calls a day from caring people wanting to donate or otherwise aid relief efforts in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. And while hundreds of Scientology Volunteer Ministers are at the disaster sites, much more help is needed. If you can assist with donations or volunteer time and assistance — no matter your religious affiliation — call (813) 872-0722 or (800) 435-7498 or e-mail vm@volunteerministers.org.