(Press release) Las Vegas - Cassandra Hepburn, 33, who recently returned from 12 days on the Scientology Disaster Relief Response Team in Haiti, has joined staff at the new Church of Scientology and Celebrity Centre in Las Vegas. The actress, who appeared in the Quentin Tarantino film "Hellride" and the daytime dramas "The Young and the Restless" and "As the World Turns," is eager to assume her new position at the Church to serve the Las Vegas community.
The volunteer service in Haiti on the Scientology Disaster Response Team changed her life, Hepburn says. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Hong Kong and Switzerland, she has led no sheltered life, but she says her time in Haiti opened her eyes to what helping others is all about.
Hepburn arrived in Haiti on February 14 aboard a Scientology-sponsored charter flight and immediately joined the team of volunteers helping refugees in three IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps.
"Living conditions for the volunteers and medical professionals were pretty rugged--we slept in tents on cots or in sleeping bags on concrete slabs or hard floors, and we ate MREs (Meals Ready-to-Eat-- food rations that are also used by the United States Armed Forces), but compared to the conditions at the IDP camps this was luxurious," she said. In the IDP camps, entire families live out in the open, their only protection from the elements a sheet or a tarp suspended from a branch. "Unless we act now to provide shelter for the refugees there will be devastation during the upcoming rainy season."
Hepburn's assignment in Haiti also included working in local orphanages with a team of medical professionals who provided checkups while volunteers gave food and toys to the children. "They were so happy to see that someone cared," she said.
Back in Las Vegas, Hepburn is approaching her new position as a staff member of the Church of Scientology of Las Vegas with renewed spirit, taking her inspiration from Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard who wrote, "A being is only as valuable as he can serve others."
