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With smoke still rising from the rubble, and ashes still thick in the air, the dominant word was confusion. With exhausted emergency rescue teams running on nothing but adrenaline, and still dazed firefighters and policemen who had lost their brothers only hours before — the first priority was obvious: calmly and effectively providing logistical support, from communication and supply lines, to the establishment of a drink and meal dispensary, soon referred to by rescue workers as the “Freedom Cafe.”
But there was an even more “dire” need — providing succor to those heroes working at the very heart of human tragedy and loss. And as the word spread — and literally within hours — more Volunteer Ministers began arriving by the hundreds — from across the Continental United States, and as far away as Europe, Asia and Australia.
And it didn’t end there. For that trauma extended far and wide. But, there you were... in the schools... in the parks, in the outlying stations, and right on the street, one-on-one. For they need only ask, and you were there — and yes, for the duration.
And while those efforts are known far and wide, with acknowledgements of appreciation, it was hardly the end of the story. Indeed, it was only the beginning. For what matters to a VM is the help he brings.
Indeed, L. Ron Hubbard described a Volunteer Minister as: “One who does not shut his eyes to the pain, evil and injustice of existence.” And that is why, since 9/11, the story you began has been repeating across the world. In Hungary and the Czech Republic — when floods brought whole communities to a standstill, our Volunteer Ministers were there both working to repair the levees, and to succor those who had lost their homes and possessions. Then again in Moscow, when terrorists struck at a popular opera house, the local media alerted citizens that the Volunteer Ministers were on hand to provide comfort to the traumatized. When bushfires raged in Australia, there again were the Volunteer Ministers, bringing relief to exhausted firefighters, working double and triple-shifts, to ultimately contain those fires. And so it goes — any time, any place, no matter the circumstance: from Washington, D.C., and San Diego, to Venezuela, the Congo, and Taiwan — the list just goes on.
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