Clearwater’s Downtown “Gateway” to See Beautification

CLEARWATER, Fla., Jan. 05, 2017 -- The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay announced its first cleanup of the New Year will be held on January 28^th in a Clearwater neighborhood known as “The Gateway.” People of all ethnic and religious backgrounds will come together with volunteers from the Church of Scientology, and The Way To Happiness Association, ready to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty.

Some members of The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay at a Gateway Cleanup

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c498d3c6-b252-4387-9690-5556a1248535

The targeted neighborhood is called “The Gateway” because when travelling west into downtown, you would drive through this neighborhood – a gateway into downtown. This area is listed as one of the “blighted” areas in Clearwater and is under the jurisdiction of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

“Doing frequent clean-ups is a function listed by the National Crime Prevention Council as one of the 20 community initiatives that can reduce crime,” said Dylan Pires, Community Affairs Director from the Church of Scientology of Clearwater. “From the tremendous work already done in the Gateway neighborhood, the area has seen a marked drop in crime by 50%.”

Following in the footsteps of the “Broken Window Theory,” if a community comes together, cleans up, beautifies and protects spaces they feel invested in, this would immediately increase a sense of responsibility towards that neighborhood. Repairing a “broken window” goes deeper than replacing just the glass pane.

In addition to the planned cleanup, volunteers from the Way To Happiness Association will distribute booklets from The Way To Happiness, a common sense moral guide, demonstrating that their hard work goes right along with Precept 12 in the book “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment.”

“Internationally, we found that wherever these booklets have been distributed, miraculous decreases in crime have coincidentally occurred,” said Tanja Cranton, Executive Director for The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay. “These 21 basic principles help guide one on the path to a happier life.”

For more information or to participate, please contact the Way to Happiness Center in Downtown Clearwater at (727) 467-6961.

The Way to Happiness Association of Tampa Bay

The Way to Happiness is available in 112 languages, with some 115 million copies distributed in 186 nations. The campaign to distribute the book has been embraced by more than 257,000 groups and individuals. It held the Guinness World Record as the single most-translated nonreligious book and fills the moral vacuum in an increasingly materialistic society.

About the Church of Scientology

The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 165 nations. Scientologists are optimistic about life and believe there is hope for a saner world and better civilization, and actively do all they can to help achieve this. The Church of Scientology regularly engages in many humanitarian programs, such as anti-drug campaigns, human rights campaigns and global educational programs. To learn more, visit www.scientology.org.

Dylan Pires 
727-467-6860