The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Western U.S Cavalcade, bringing help to more than a 1,000 St. Louis residents.

With its mission to bring unconditional help to communities across the Western United States, since August the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Cavalcade has been doing just that in the St. Louis Metro Area.

The Scientology Volunteer Minister (VM) program, inaugurated by Scientology Founder, L. Ron Hubbard in the mid-1970s, was designed to provide practical tools and help to people whenever and wherever it is needed.

Volunteer Ministers live by the motto: “Something can be done about it.” They provide emergency relief when natural or man-made disasters strike, but they also reach out in their communities with training and one-on-one help throughout the year. Volunteer Ministers Continental Cavalcades do the same throughout their continental zones, and VM Goodwill Tours bring this help to towns and cities around the world, from the Amazon basin to Siberia and from the islands of the South Pacific to remote villages in Africa.

The Western United States Cavalcade arrived in St. Louis in early August and has been touring throughout the metro area ever since, apart from a brief hiatus when tour members took off for California to provide relief to victims of this summer’s savage Carr Fire.

At the tent are Volunteer Minister, trained in Scientology spiritual technology to address life’s most common and pressing problems. They deliver courses to help people deal with these challenges—from improving relationships and salvaging marriages to overcoming barriers and accomplishing goals. And a course in the technology of study gives people the tools to be able to learn and apply any subject.

All Volunteer Ministers courses are based on The Scientology Handbook and they are available at Scientology Churches and Missions and are also offered online through the Scientology and Volunteer Ministers websites.

One of the most popular services at the tent were Scientology assists, techniques developed by Mr. Hubbard to improve communication with the body, thereby addressing the spiritual factors that can precipitate, worsen or prolong aches and pains and illnesses and injuries.

More than a 1,000 St. Louisans visited the Volunteer Ministers Cavalcade since it opened its bright yellow pavilion in the city.

In response to a request for help from a local Pentecostal church, the VMs joined eight members of the pastor’s congregation in a neighborhood cleanup, tackling the streets around four abandoned houses. They cut down weeds, disposed of used drug syringes, filled heavy duty trash bags with garbage and hauled it all away. One of the neighbors who felt hopeless about the deterioration of her neighborhood said, “It made me see that if we change the environment, then we can change ourselves.”

In their final days in St. Louis, the West U.S. Cavalcade members bid farewell to the many friends made in their brief stay in the city and reminded the community that Volunteer Ministers services are always a phone call away at 1 (800) help4yu or at the Church of Scientology St. Louis.

In creating the Volunteer Ministers program, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”