Mike: I wasn’t implying that you were implying. It does make me sad when I see people trying to do the right thing within a corrupt organization. No matter their good intentions, it’s going to be tapped for money and PR.

I remember digging into some press releases for the Portland Org years ago, expecting to find the same empty hype, but I found that they were doing real charity work, almost like what people expect a charitable organization to do. 🙂 I imagine by now all those people have been scattered into the wind by edicts from on high.

Wayne: Wasn’t there something a while back that VM t-shirts and jackets were no longer going to be supplied or even made available for purchase? (Cutbacks and cost-cutting during unparallelled expansion and growth?)

I am sure that they will soon be crammed on bypassing the proper management command lines. (Just so that they could actually get something done is no excuse.)

Or maybe he is PRETENDING to do actual help. So that he can take credit for doing some true charity for the world. I think it’s a really nice outward appearance… but somewhere I have a sneaking feeling that it will be diverted. IMO it would be best to donate to another organization in order to feel good about where my money goes.

Still cynical here. He is asking for money. If he asked people to drop off those items I would be more inclined to believe him. Just been burned on this more than once. And yes, the money could be used to pay for film crews and this could be enforced from on high. Not saying the guy himself has bad intentions. But dear leader must already have worked out a way to get some of the money for himself!

Unfortunately, I don’t believe that any funds raised will be spent on any food truck from Budapest. There are already several organizations doing the same thing here in Budapest. In fact, the cheapest and best way to help would be to collect/buy goods and take them to the Serbian Church in the Vth distrcit (Budapest has a large localized Serbian community). The Church has been sending out vehicles every few days for weeks; and unlike the Church of Scientology, you can be confident that any money you give them, or goods you provide, will go where it can be used the best.

I’m sure that there are Scientologists in eastern and central Europe who do want to help the flood victims. The problem is that they they live in the shadow of Castle Dracula, except that their vampires prey and feed on the good intentions of others. Another reason to hate the Church, as if we need one.

That’s how I read this. The lack of yellow jackets and begging for $ for useless pamphlets, the sheer normality of a church request for $ for water/food is so jarringly different from their usual emails that it’s noteworthy.