With the country reeling from a series of devastating tragedies, from the Manchester and London terrorist attacks to the Grenfell Towers fire, Scientology Volunteer Ministers are providing succor to rescue workers and victims and helping people move on.
An excerpt from an article in the Financial Times gives a man-on-the-street view of their work:
A Christian, a Muslim and a Scientologist—all strangers—are riding through west London in a yellow van. It sounds like the set-up to a bad joke, thought Andre Apollis. Instead, it was a glimpse of the way tragedy can upend our usual realities.
Apollis had awoken to news of the devastating fire in nearby Grenfell Tower. Although suffering from a chronic skin disease, he set off with a vague notion of helping. Like other would-be volunteers, he was turned away by the churches. There was no one from the local council to be found.
“Then I saw this yellow van pull up,” he recalled. “They were the Church of Scientology, and they asked if I wanted to help.”
The next thing he knew he was donning a Scientology T-shirt—“even though I don’t believe in it”.
He and his new comrades were delivering water when, soon enough, a man jumped in front of the van, waving his arms. He had food to donate if they could give him a ride.
“We said, ‘yes, jump in!’” recalled Apollis, 43, an opera singer. “He was a Muslim guy and he took us to this restaurant in Holland Park.” There they loaded the van with kafte, rice, hummus and pita bread and brought it back to Grenfell. They took special care to feed the police patrolling the neighbourhood, as the Muslim man had requested. “It was just amazing,” Apollis said. “We were just working together.”
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