A team of Scientologists assists residents of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

It’s been two weeks since Hurricane Ida rampaged across St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, but the area still looks like a war zone. Fallen trees and power lines litter neighborhoods that are still without electricity. A team of Scientology Volunteer Ministers arrived from Florida and California to help local residents clean up their homes and businesses and salvage what they can from the wreckage.

The Volunteer Ministers learned that the home of the principal of a local elementary school was all but destroyed—it had been submerged under six feet of storm surge. With the house now covered with mold growing on wet surfaces of floors and walls, the Volunteer Ministers pitched in, helping remove furniture, rip out destroyed drywall, insulation, fixtures, cabinets, and flooring, and salvage personal items.

In another town, Ama, Ida’s category 4 winds toppled trees and power lines completely blocking access to streets. When the Volunteer Ministers arrived there, a lineman was grappling with the damage, trying to make it safe for people to drive into the neighborhood where the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church was distributing food. They helped chainsaw one of the fallen trees into logs and carried it away so the lineman didn’t have to do so. The church, designated as a POD (point of distribution), has been providing food to hundreds of people a day. A fallen tree blocked part of the parking lot, so the Volunteer Ministers cut up and removed the tree, making it possible for more people to access the church. 

The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. 

A Volunteer Minister’s mandate is to be “a person who helps his fellow man on a volunteer basis by restoring truth and spiritual values to the lives of others.” Their creed: “A Volunteer Minister does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strength as well.”

Their motto is, no matter the circumstances, “Something can be done about it.”