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Helping Hands for Hurting Heroes is a not-for-profit organization founded in February 2008, by The Woodard Family of Abilene, Kansas. The purposes of the organization are two-fold:

1.) Providing Therapeutic Massage and other health-related services to those who put themselves in harm’s way by working for victims at disaster sites around the country and around the globe.

2.) To provide health, nutritional and medical education for the public. Some of the methods to be used are:

·          Production and dissemination of educational materials.

·          By providing a speakers bureau of professionals in allied fields.

·          By use of Qualified Volunteer Professionals in Massage Therapy, Education, Nutrition, Chiropractic and other allied fields.

 Some have asked why would a hurting hero need a massage? Everyone likes a good back-rub, but why do they NEED one?

·          The type of massage that would be used primarily in such cases would be sports massage, not what you would think of as spa or “feel-good” massage.

·          In sports massage, the benefits of massage prior to strenuous physical activity include:

o         Less likelihood of personal injury to muscle tissue,

o         Less likelihood of strained ligaments,

o         Less likelihood of torn tissue,

o         less likelihood of sprains.

·          In sports massage, the benefits of massage following such physical labor include:

o         Removal of dangerous toxins built up in muscle tissue,

o         Removal of uric acid crystals and “hot spots” that cause muscle tissue to develop “knots” and other painful trigger points,

o        Release of stresses of the day that may allow the worker to begin to deal with the things that he/she has witnessed during the work they have been doing. While counseling is out of scope of practice for massage practitioners, the value of the worker beginning to deal with these things before they return home cannot be over emphasized. In many cases the help of professional counselors is available to these workers at the site as well, enabling their healing processes (both physical and mental) to begin sooner than may otherwise occur. 

 As you can see there are many reasons that this service is both needed and wanted by those who serve us all so valiantly. None deserve it more… Won’t you be a part of helping us to serve them? You never know when disaster may hit. You never know when you may need these heroes to come work for you. Help us take care of them now and prepare for the next disaster. It’s not a matter of if….. only when and how prepared we will be to deal with it. With your help, we are sure to earn the funds we need this year! We appreciate your support.