Church of Scientology Padova Fights Urban Decay

Padova, Italy, February 23, 2016 (Newswire.com) - ​Volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Padova continued their campaign to upgrade the Pontevigodarzere neighborhood February 21 by carrying out a cleanup of an abandoned lot.

“The volunteers are dedicated to countering deterioration,” Tiziana Bonazza, coordinator of the initiative, told PadovaOggi news, which reported on the project. “We want to raise neighborhood awareness and participation in caring for and preserving the character of the region that includes such beautiful areas as the provincial bicycle path that runs along the banks of the Brenta River.”

The Scientology volunteers hold regular cleanups in Pontevigodarzere, where they remove garbage, including empty bottles and cans. They haul out anywhere from three to 20 bags of trash each time.

Large empty tracts of land in this region have deteriorated, becoming impromptu camps for migrants and homeless. The Scientologists have adopted a stretch of land under the highway overpass and bridge including a nearby abandoned supermarket. They also hold cleanups of the walking paths along the embankment of the Muson dei Sassi River.

The volunteers were inspired to take on this environmental campaign by The Way to Happiness, the nonreligious, common sense moral code Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote to provide a moral compass for people of all cultures and creeds.

The Way to Happiness states, “The idea that one has a share in the planet and that one can and should help care for it may seem very large and, to some, quite beyond reality. But today what happens on the other side of the world, even so far away, can effect what happens in your own home… Care of the planet begins in one’s own front yard. It extends through the area one travels to get to school or work. It covers such places as where one picnics or goes on vacation. The litter which messes up the terrain and water supply, the dead brush which invites fire, these are things one need not contribute to and which, in otherwise idle moments, one can do something about. Planting a tree may seem little enough but it is something.”

For more than 30 years, volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Padova have engaged in community initiatives including neighborhood cleanups and disposing of abandoned syringes.