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Mary Ann Finch sits “Rolf” down on a makeshift massage table — a plastic crate — and digs her gentle fingers into his back and neck, releasing years of knots and tension. For a moment, Rolf’s ocean-weathered face seems to relax. Since his wife died, alcohol has taken its toll on the 49-year-old who lives in one of the city’s homeless camps.

While most San Franciscans edge away from the poor and the homeless, people like Rolf, Finch has devoted her career to touching them and training others to do the same.

After a trip to India in 1997, Finch, a massage practitioner, opened the Care Through Touch Healing Institute, a clinic and school devoted to massaging the homeless. While abroad, she studied and observed Mother Teresa, the late Roman Catholic nun and well-known humanitarian. Finch was so moved by Mother Teresa’s work with the poor that she decided to use her “caring touch” skills to help the underprivileged and homeless back in San Francisco.

Hands-on massage is just the first step in Finch’s work. She uses touch as a vehicle to make contact with her clients, to elevate their self-esteem, and to eventually assist them in finding shelters, rehabilitation programs, and jobs.

The institute is located on Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin District, but Finch can be found at a number of locations around the city, including homeless shelters, recovery and drop-in centers, residential hotels, or simply “working the streets.”

Finch also finds time to train interns from around the world on the art of massage. After an intense and lengthy workshop, the interns head out to local spots to begin their work lifting the spirits of the poor, the ailing, and the forgotten.

Sister Elsie and Sister Mary Ellen, both graduates of Finch’s program, are Catholic nuns who came to San Francisco after working to build clinics and schools in developing countries. They will take pillows and towels to a local men’s shelter and, after a brief greeting, begin to massage the “untouchables.” The client will sit under a pair of healing hands, his head lowered, with a look of ease and relief slowly appearing on his face. Some clients drift off while others speak quietly to their caregivers, identifying particular physical pains to focus on, or sometimes voicing personal concerns. After 20 minutes or so, time is up. Reluctantly, the grateful client says goodbye while the next client sits down for “care through touch.”

Following one such session with Sister Elsie, a client stands up to say goodbye. Before leaving, he asks for one more favor.

“Sure, what’s that?” she asks.

“A hug!”

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