Helping Hands

HIV-positive children receive healing touch at Camp Viva, a program for children and families who are infected or affected by the HIV virus and AIDS.

Matthew Kenny has been a part of the Westchester, New York, camp since its inception, first as a counselor and now as director of the massage-therapy program. Kenny is also coordinator of the massage-therapy program at the State University of New York, Columbia-Greene Community College.

“Each year I bring a number of my students to the camp, and we work on the campers,” he said. “I find the connection vital and reaffirming, which is why I became a massage therapist.

"[The program offers] a positive touch in a population that at one time didn’t allow a healthy touch," he continues. "The students walk away feeling connected and appreciated with the skills that they are learning.”

Kenny was employed as an HIV prevention educator and counselor trainer for the state of New York when he decided massage therapy might be a more lucrative career.

"I think for me [the camp] maintains a connection for a cause that has always been important and really provides the students an opportunity for some reality on how they can affect people in a healthy and positive way."

The campers love the program as well, he says, and it is one of the most popular features at the camp, which operates a few weeks each summer.

“It makes them feel very special,” said Viola Williams, the camp's adult-education coordinator. “The fact that they get a service for free from an expert in the field makes them feel on top of the world.

"For some of the campers it is their very first [massage], so … to see their face going in and how it transforms when they come out is priceless."

—Keith Loria