Winning massage schools receive $2,500 grants for 2010 Community Service

SAN DIEGO, CA – March 28, 2011– BIOTONE has announced that the Boulder College of Massage Therapy in Boulder, Colorado, and Mind Body Institute LLC in Nashville, Tennessee, are the recipients of the annual BIOTONE Community Outreach Award. Each school will receive a $2,500 grant from BIOTONE in recognition of its volunteer program in 2010 to provide massage therapy to members of the community.

“We congratulate these two institutions for their community contributions,” said Jean Shea, BIOTONE founder and president. “There is very strong spirit of volunteerism among our industry professionals, which we applaud and are very happy to support and recognize with our annual award.”

The BIOTONE Community Outreach Award, established in 2007, annually rewards two massage therapy schools for helping their community, providing students with hands-on training experiences and advancing public awareness of the value of massage therapy.

Grant-recipient programs

The Service Learning Program founded in 1979 at Boulder College of Massage Therapy sends students into the community to provide massage to various local organizations, including such groups as the Boulder Veterans Counseling Center, Longmont United Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). Each year, the student body provides on average more than 5,000 hours of volunteer service.

At the Boulder Veterans Counseling Center, students provide bodywork to soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. At Longmont United Hospital, an integrative health care center, the students give one hour massage to doctors, nurses, massage therapists, acupuncturists, nutritionists and occasionally patients. Students working at the Ronald McDonald House help parents alleviate the stress of caring for their critically ill children with one hour of massage.

“The Boulder College of Massage Therapy is honored to be a recipient of the BIOTONE 2010 Community Outreach Award,” said Aspen Sullivan, community internship manager of the school. “With the grant, our students are able to continue to touch the lives of very deserving candidates and educate the public about the benefits of massage therapy. It is a true joy to see changes in clients and students who are participating in the Service Learning Program.”

Since 1996, Mind Body Institute has sent three classes a year to Vanderbilt Medical Center to perform free chair massage on three different floors. Each class goes for four hours at a time for six to eight weeks in a row, once a week. The students rotate which floor they work on each week to get the most from this opportunity.

Students work with the doctors and nurses on the trauma floor, the families waiting while their loved ones receive care and the staff and patients on the oncology floor. The students see firsthand how a 15-minute chair massage can impact someone who has been sleeping in a waiting room for several weeks while someone they love is in critical condition, doctors and nurses who work on their feet 12 to 15 hours a day and cancer patients who are so relieved to have some positive touch.

“The entire staff and current students are extremely excited about the grant money being awarded to us from BIOTONE,” said Maj-Lis Nash, Mind Body Institute owner. “We are looking forward to using it for more outreach to cancer survivors and to help us fund an awesome’giving-back’ tent at a local Relay for Life event here in Nashville.”

BIOTONE Community Service Award and Edu-Partners

The Community Service Award is an initiative under BIOTONE’s Edu-Partner Program, in which the company helps schools raise their visibility among prospective students, and schools can participate with BIOTONE in joint marketing activities. To date, more than 800 schools across the nation participate in BIOTONE’s Edu-Partner Program.

About BIOTONE

BIOTONE, headquartered in San Diego, California, is the leading manufacturer of quality massage oils, cremes, lotions and gels as well as spa body and face and foot treatment products. Founded in 1980, BIOTONE is an independently owned business. The company sells its products in the U.S. and internationally. For more information on BIOTONE, visit www.biotone.com or call (800) 445-6457.