Sep 9, 2009 7:35 pm US/Pacific
Massage Therapist Shares Healing With the Homeless
Jefferson Award Winner: Mary Ann Finch
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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Mary Ann Finch helps Susan with some healing massage.
CBS
You have some pretty tight shoulders," Mary Ann Finch tells Susan, kneading the woman's shoulders to relax the muscles.
"Yeh, it's from sitting up at night," Susan answers.
Susan looks forward to these massages from Mary Ann.
"Sheer heaven," she calls it.
For homeless and at-risk people like Susan in San Francisco's Tenderloin, Mary Ann's massages represent a tender, safe, respite from life on the streets.
"I want them to know that they're valued, that they're seen, because this is a population of people that are for the most part, unseen and untouched," Mary Ann explains.
Mary Ann, a trained massage therapist, founded her non-profit
Care Through Touch Institute 26 years ago. She had a passion for the poor. But she says a trip to India changed her life. She worked alongside Mother Teresa in a leper colony.
"Mother was never afraid to touch," Mary Ann remembers. "It was like her touch was a way of grounding that person."
Mother Teresa gave her this advice: "Now when you go home, find those in most need, the poorest, and touch them with that same care."
And Mary Ann put those words into practice. From homeless shelters to health clinics, people have grown to depend on Mary Ann's healing hands.
"I feel protected," says recovering drug addict Lauren Freitas. "Mary Ann is part of what I do to take care of myself emotionally and spiritually."
The half dozen volunteers Mary Ann has trained in massage say she's taught them compassion.
Massage practitioner Wade Meyer says, "Everybody deserves to have touch, to feel valuable and to have dignity."
And practitioner Alyssa Nickell says of Mary Ann, "She's always heart-forward. She leads with her heart."
Mary Ann herself adds, "I feel very honored, I feel very humbled and I feel very happy. I feel I'm happy I could be part of their lives."
For touching tens of thousands of lives through therapeutic massage, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Mary Ann Finch.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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