Newton Spa Starts Non-Profit to Help Heal Grieving Hearts

When Jane Aransky's friend lost her husband of 60 years, Aransky decided on an alternative way to offer her friend condolences and support: she gave her a gift certificate for facial at her Newton Upper Falls spa, .

Two months after the funeral, Aransky's friend made her way to the spa for her facial, still heavy-hearted from the loss of her husband. By the end of the spa session, though, she was a different woman.

"It was like a different face," says Aransky, owner of La Residencia. "You could see her peacefulness and she said it was just what she needed...she was happy and relaxed from the inside."

Her friend's transformation, Aransky says, is what inspired her to start the Touching the Healing Heart Fund, a non-profit that provides free spa services for people who have lost loved ones. 

Aransky, who has donated treatments for cancer patients and caretakers in the past, say she sees the Touching the Healing Heart Fund a way to give back as well as a way to provide a "necessary" service for those who are grieving.

The power of "touch," such as massages or facials, help people both mentally and physically, Aransky says. That human interaction and connection is also a way to convey compassion for the pain they are going through, she says.

"The value of being touched is so important," Aransky says. "Even in small doses, it really does make a huge difference."

Over the last eight months, Aransky says she's been working on the details and organization behind the fund, which was officially launched this spring. The fund covers one treatment of anything at the spa and is open to anyone who has lost a partner, parent, sibling or child within the last year.

The Touching the Healing Heart Fund is supported through donations and a partnership with Causes International, a Needham-based company that collects and upcycles electronics and donates a portion of the profits back to organizations/causes with which it partners. 

Aransky says she collects small- to medium-sized electronics (preferably old phones and Mp3 players) at La Residencia that are then turned in to Causes International in exchange for a monetary donation to the Touching the Healing Heart Fund. Those who wish to donate to the fund can also mail electronics to Causes International and specify the donation is for the Touching the Healing Heart Fund. (Mailing instructions available on the Causes International website). 

But this is "just the beginning," Aransky says; the local spa owner has already collected several bags of electronics to turn in and is planning to reach out to local organizations, hospices and churches to spread the word about the fund and the free treatments.

"I'm so excited about this," she says. "I can't wait to help."

For more information on the Touching the Healing Heart Fund, visit the organization's website.