2020 MTF Community Service Grants Awarded

Posted:Tuesday, December 15, 2020

The Massage Therapy Foundation is pleased to announce the award of four Community Service Grants for the 2020 granting cycle. MTF’s Community Service Grants bring the benefits of massage therapy to people who would otherwise not have access. To date MTF has granted over $500,000 towards community service projects worldwide. These projects have provided massage therapy to a wide range of populations including homeless individuals in hospice care at the end of life, diabetics in rural Mexico, cancer center staff, disabled seniors, terminally ill children and their caregivers, survivors of abuse and human trafficking, and so many others. The 2020 MTF Community Service Grant projects selected are as follows:

Massage for Caregivers of Loved Ones with Dementia
$3,600
Bethany Village, Asbury Foundation
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
This grant is sponsored by a gift from Biotone

The goal of the project is to provide massage therapy for older adults who serve as caregivers for loved ones suffering from dementia. The objectives of this project include—to improve the overall health of caregivers; to provide massage therapy services to caregivers; and to educate caregivers to the benefits of massage therapy. During the grant period, each caregiver will receive a massage each week, for a period of six weeks. Throughout the six weeks, caregivers will also receive instruction for using massage techniques to improve the wellbeing of their loved one suffering from dementia.

Therapeutic Massage Clinic for Low-Income Older Adults Experiencing Chronic Pain
$4,495
Vera Court
Madison, Wisconsin
This grant is sponsored by a gift from Biotone

This grant supports a therapeutic massage clinic that aims to reduce chronic pain experienced during activities of daily living among low-income adults age 50+ living in Dane County. The focus of massage in this project will be to reduce pain, relieve muscle tension, and increase individuals’ ability to perform activities of daily living, thereby improving quality of life.

SHE Retreats: Trauma Informed Massage and Self-Care
$5,000
DIVAS Who Win Freedom Center, Inc.
Athens, Georgia
This grant is sponsored by a gift from a licensed massage therapist from the Chicagoland Northwest area

This grant will support SHE Retreats offered to women who are survivors of sex trafficking and/or overcoming addiction and trauma to aid them in successfully reentering society. This therapeutic method has proved to be a healthy and healing link between the various life skill-building therapeutic services and the gift of massage. The objective includes: fortifying connection peer to peer, cultivating recovery relationships, healing the trauma tissues within oneself through the modality of massage, decrease return to use and/or return to sex trade by developing a peer mentor bond with therapist and peer coaches, as well as emphasizing and exploring new modalities of self-care through massage. Massage therapist uses the power of touch, color therapy (light), sound, and smell (essential oils) for a full body experience by exercising four of the five senses in a holistic approach to massage.

Free Seated Massage Therapy Program for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals
$5,000
Care Through Touch Institute
San Francisco, California

This grant was initially designed to fund a program providing free seated massage for formerly incarcerated individuals to help address the behavioral, social, spiritual, and environmental issues affecting quality of life. This included training of staff and volunteers to better enable them to “care through touch.” Due to continued COVID-19 restrictions, the Care Through Touch Institute’s efforts have shifted towards writing a series of massage manuals explaining how to work with heavily traumatized populations. These manuals will be distributed so that many may learn from and develop tools needed in order implement similar programs in their own communities at a time when people will need touch and connection more than ever.