VOLUNTEER MINISTERS ON THE MOVE HELP MILLIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE
Traveling more than 5 million miles, Volunteer Ministers have made their way through the largest city centers and some of the world’s most remote villages to deliver knowledge and effective tools from their signature yellow tents.
With the purpose to assist and empower others in times of disaster as well as in everyday life, Volunteer Minister (VM) Cavalcades take their help into major cities and remote communities throughout the world. For more than a decade, VMs have traveled to locations like London, Berlin, New York, Los Angeles and Melbourne—as well as the Amazon Basin, Western and Central Africa, India, Siberia, South America, the Pacific islands and the Australian Outback. In a single year, 520 VM teams traveled 170 thousand miles helping 2.1 million people.
Serbia provides a perfect example. In recent decades, the country has suffered conflict and misery, with 140,000 lives lost and millions displaced.
Citizens gradually began to rebuild the economy and political structure. By early 2012, Serbia was still plagued with a 25.5 percent unemployment rate, one of the highest in Europe.
“Soon, hundreds of officials and community leaders, including the Commander of the city’s firefighters, toured the tent and enrolled on free Scientology Tools for Life courses.”
That year, a Volunteer Minister Goodwill Tour arrived to bring solutions, with the goal of training a volume of Serbians and creating a network of Volunteer Minister groups that could unite to put the nation back on its feet.
Subotica, the northernmost city in the country, was the first location chosen for the tour. Here, VMs set up tents near the city hall. Soon, hundreds of officials and community leaders, including the Commander of the city’s firefighters, toured the tent and enrolled on free Scientology Tools for Life courses. These imparted skills in communication, resolving conflicts, parenting and more.
The tour’s next stop was Novi Sad, one of the country’s leading industrial, financial and cultural centers. There, new VMs were trained who, in turn, trained more—a pattern which repeated in city after city.
When heavy rains caused disastrous flooding in the country, more than 159 newly trained VMs, including 21 professional rescue workers, mobilized. As a result, more than 16,000 people were assisted with one-on-one help by Serbia’s new force of Volunteer Ministers.
FACTS
BY THE NUMBERS
Honoring 40 years of service by the VM Organization—in the past ten years…
8,204
ONLINE COURSES
were completed by up-and-coming Volunteer Ministers.
>5 Million
MILES
were traveled by Volunteer Ministers delivering help across the globe.
151
DISASTER SITES
saw Volunteer Ministers respond to organize, deliver supplies and offer spiritual first aid.
>26 Million
HOURS
of Volunteer Minister help was provided to those in need.
2,684
NEW GROUPS
were started, to bring effective tools for life to greater numbers planetwide.
DONATE
Volunteer Ministers are on call across the globe and around the clock to respond to any and every disaster. Your contribution will fund volunteer travel as well as food, water, tents and medical supplies for disaster victims.