MOULTRIE – The elderly are sometimes a forgotten group in the community, especially those who are residents in a nursing or assisted living facility. One ministry says, “Not on our watch.”
Loving Hands Ministry founder Rachael Downing is on a mission to let seniors know that they are not forgotten through treating them to hands-on mini spa days.
“I am honored to be able to go to the assisted living homes to treat them with a day of pampering. To show them kindness and to let them know they are not forgotten,” she said.
Downing, with the help of her mother, Trish Smith, and a friend, April Payne, started visiting a couple of assisted living facilities around this area in December to do some facials and mini hand and foot spa treatments to the residents. Now, she has quite a few spa days scheduled and a couple of facilities have asked her to come back including The Golden Apple in Moultrie.
“It makes me happy to see them happy,” she said.
The ministry came out of a call that she got from an elderly friend who was in a facility in Thomasville. Downing was a consultant for a company that sold spa products and the woman knew it.
“She called me one day from there and asked me if I would come in and let them check-out the products,” she said.
The said this sparked the idea that other places might want her to come in and offer a spa day for their residents.
“It seems like they’re the ones who’re forgotten. You know, I hate saying that because some people don’t think that, maybe. They’re some who do go see their family but a lot of the times, they really are forgotten,” Downing said.
She said that when she went to the facility in Thomasville and did the spa day for them, it was overwhelming, “I couldn’t even describe how they reacted to it. I did their little hands and I went back and did their feet.”
She said the residents would put their feet up in her lap and when she was massaging them, they would say things like, “Oh, it’s been 15 years since anybody’s did my feet like this.”
Downing sad the facility in Thomasville has now asked her if she can come back once a month.
“So, I agreed to it. Then, I came to Moultrie and there’s one in Adel and a lady is supposed to be calling me this week from Tifton,” she added.
She said that when she and her mother went to the Golden Apple in Moultrie, they had about 20 residents that they did mini spa treatments on.
“The owner of the Golden Apple told me, ‘Just you coming here and doing this and spending time means more to them than if you would’ve brought them gifts,’” she said.
She said the owner also told her that the time she was spending with them was something that the residents absolutely loved.
“I said, ‘I just can’t stop now,’” Downing said.
Since they had run out of time, she said, they didn’t get a chance to do the foot spa treatment at the Golden Apple, so she was going back to do it because she didn’t want to just omit it.
Downing clarified that it was a mini foot spa treatment, which includes a warm foot bath to soften up their skin and then a foot massage with lotion. She said the mini hand spa was the same. She didn’t do full manicures or pedicures as that required licensing.
She also said that the products that she uses on the residents are high-quality and all-natural, which she thinks is better for their skin, which is more delicate due to their age.
Downing buys all of the products herself but has had a couple of anonymous individuals donate to the ministry, along with a couple of businesses, Payne’s Auto Mart and Kelley Insurance. She said that she was very appreciative and thankful to them for making donations to help with the Loving Hands Ministry.
“I’m not looking at all to make money. I’m just looking to have the money to keep the products so that I can continue to keep doing it for them,” she said.
She said some of the residents have come up to her to ask how much it costs, and she tells them that it doesn’t cost them anything at all.
“It’s just for them to have a day of enjoyment and be pampered and shown the love that they deserve,” Downing said.
She also said that she would welcome anyone who was interested in volunteering time to go out with her to the assisted living facilities to do the spa days.
The Loving Hands Ministry has a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/loving.hands.ministry.2024, where Downing can be contacted for those who are interested in either making a donation or volunteering.
Downing said that the best response that she’s gotten so far has been overhearing someone, who had a parent in the facility, say, “She may not remember it tomorrow but I feel so blessed she was pampered today.”