Joining forces with the men and women of Hollywood Fire Station 76 

Firefighters are in the business of saving lives. These are the men and women who provide fire prevention and rescue. They battle the blazes throughout the city and the notorious Los Angeles brushfires and wildfires. They are also the ambulance drivers, EMTs and paramedics who provide emergency medical response. And they do so day and night every day of the year. Hollywood Village is a partnership between the Church of Scientology, The Way to Happiness Foundation, the Los Angeles Police Department, local businesses, and numerous faith-based and neighborhood groups dedicated to ensuring that Hollywood is beautiful, safe and clean. So as soon as Hollywood Village volunteers learned that L.A. Fire Station 76 needed help with a project, they were eager to take it on. 

Fire Station 76 is just north of the Hollywood Bowl, south of Universal City Walk and right off the Hollywood Freeway. Fire stations are subject to a lot of wear and tear and this one needed some TLC. The crew have been doing interior renovations bit by bit, but the fire chief knew they would need some help to tackle the exterior. Under the direction of a landscape designer, the Hollywood Village volunteers teamed up with the firefighters. And the difference between before and after was impressive.

Together, they cut back and disposed of years of overgrowth, dead brush, roots and weeds and conditioned the lawn and flower box. After plenty of hard work, the result was a bright new, well-tended landscape around the fire station.

Hollywood Village volunteers live by the precepts of The Way to Happiness, the nonreligious moral code based wholly on common sense. Author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard wrote the book in 1981 to help arrest the moral decline in society and restore integrity and trust. The book’s 21 basic principles or precepts are a simple guide people of any culture or creed can apply to improve the quality of their lives and the lives of others.

In carrying out the cleanup, Hollywood Village put several precepts of The Way to Happiness into practice: Precept 6, Set a Good Example; Precept 12, Safeguard and Improve Your Environment; Precept 16, Be Industrious; and Precept 20, Try To Treat Others as You Would Want Them To Treat You.

Not only did they accomplish what they intended, they also forged new friendships. And the completed project brought as much joy to the volunteers as it did to the men and women of the firehouse.

To learn more about The Way to Happiness, tour the Public Information Center of any Ideal Scientology Church, watch public service announcements on its 21 precepts and The Way to Happiness book on film on the Scientology Network, or episodes of Voices for Humanity, an award-winning original series on the Scientology Network featuring change-makers of all faiths, cultures and nations who extend help to their communities using humanitarian and social betterment programs supported by Scientologists and the Church of Scientology.