Baton Rouge, USA - A dreamy-looking girl in a yellow tee-shirt reading "Scientology volunteer minister" approaches weary Hurricane Katrina survivors to ask: "Would you like a massage?" as the church scouts recruits.
Outside the River Center, the conference center in the state capital of Baton Rouge now a makeshift Red Cross shelter for some 2,000 people displaced by the monster storm, the church has set up a tent for "treatment of traumas" with the slogan overhead: "Something can be done about it."
Inside, despite the sign, there is no psychiatrist or medication; Scientology refutes modern psychiatry.
Instead there are massage tables, drinks, brochures touting "the way to happiness" and booklets with moral lessons for youths.
In stifling heat, a handful of refugees who have been here for days agree to a massage without learning too much of what is was about.
The massage, known as a "nerve assist" in Scientology terms, actually involves lightly touching different parts of the body with the tips of the fingers used as a "spiritual healing" technique that is supposed to "restore communication between the thetan (spirit) and the body."
"I'm feeling relaxed," one of them said of the exercise, sounding not entirely convinced.
He leaves with a brochure, "The Way to Happiness," inspired by the literature and spiritual writings of L. Ron Hubbard, an American science fiction writer who in 1950 founded a personal development doctrine dubbed Dianetics.
The booklet takes pains to underscore that it is not a religious work but rather a moral code inspired by Hubbard. In fact, it is a simple guide to Scientology's belief system.
The organization also delivers guidance to the displaced and distressed.
Judy Fagerman, volunteer program coordinator, defends the church's outreach.
"We are not proselytizing, we're just here just to help. People appreciate the help, especially when they feel it's sincere," she said. "We help with food lines, transporting people, cleaning.
"We're seeing about 600 people a day," Fagerman said.
More than 400 volunteers with the church have come to lend a hand in Louisiana as well as in Mississippi and Alabama, she said.
Last week, US actor John Travolta, a high-profile church member, flew into Baton Rouge with his wife, actress
Kelly Preston, bringing food and medicine.
"The kids went crazy. They loved it," Fagerman said.
On the heels of the September 11 terror strikes, the Asian tsunami and now hurricane Katrina, the Church of Scientology has reached out to victims of major disasters, a policy some non-governmental organizations have questioned.
Not considered a religion in some countries, such as France and Germany, the church was founded in California in 1954. By 1966 it was "established as a worldwide religion" the church says on its website.
The New York Times has reported that in 1993, years after Hubbard's death and after years of having been turned down, the church suddenly and in not entirely clear circumstances was classified as a religion by the US Internal Revenue Service making it exempt from taxation.