December 5, 2006

NEW YORK – In celebration of the UN International Volunteer Day, Scientologists in New York announced the appointment of Ms. Meghan Fialkoff to head their "Say No to Drugs – Say Yes to Life" campaign here in New York. The campaign includes massive distribution of a new series of booklets giving the truth about harmful drugs in general, and then booklets on specific drugs like heroin, cocaine, and LSD.

Church members have already manned information booths educating people on the harms associates with drug abuse, lectured in schools, community centers and jails. "Parents calling and thanking us inspire Scientologists to do even more volunteer work," says Ms. Fialkoff, the new campaign coordinator for the Church in New York.

Scientologists consider it is their duty to use their practical knowledge to help others to benefit from it. In fact, the Code of a Scientologist, written by L. Ron Hubbard, states in part, "To use the best I know of Scientology to the best of my ability to help my family, friends, groups and the world."

Throughout the year, Scientologists have contributed millions of volunteer hours by participating at numerous different events covering four main fields: drugs, human rights, handling of disasters and tackling psychiatric abuses.

On the human rights front, the Church released its new Public Service Announcements (PSAs) which pictured each of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and which are playing on local TV. Teachers have claimed that the PSAs had a remarkable calming effect in their schools, with bullying amongst kids diminishing markedly after the PSAs were shown to the students.

Thousands of Scientology Volunteer Ministers freely provided their help at specific disaster sites such as at the Table Mountain fire in Cape Town in 2005, the hurricane in Northern Queensland or the Bombay train bombing. They have also trained social service agencies such as Civil Defense personnel in South American and India, the police in Botswana, Brazil, India, or the First Responders in the US while in exchange, the VMs were trained in community emergency response training.

Lastly, denouncing psychiatric abuses has been a major activity amongst Scientologists. While thousands have participated in demonstrations to expose the danger of psychiatry, the apogee has been the release of a documentary called, "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death." In addition to interviewing over 150 health professionals, attorneys, educators denouncing the fraud of psychiatry, it interviews victims of psychiatric brutalities which explains why Scientologists are active in that field. Since the end of October, more than 185,000 DVDs have been distributed to raise the awareness of the population to such a threat.

"Scientologists have been contributing in their communities for the past 50 years. They consider every minute they give to help others is worth their while and so they are happy to do so and they continue year after year," added Ms. Fialkoff.

Church of Scientology, New York