The Healing Power of Touch

By Victoria Smith Alvarez

SonBridge community engagement associate

Each day, a person is touched and helped at SonBridge Center for Better Living in College Place, Washington. Whether it’s through the Thrift&Gift Store, the Helpline@Sonbridge resource assistance office, or the dental clinic, SonBridge is impacting lives. Currently, it seems the importance of the service at SonBridge has been highlighted by the word touch. 

Samuel, a recent patient of the SonBridge Dental Clinic, arrived for his appointment visibly nervous. In the dental chair, he couldn’t calm down enough to stop shaking and sweating. The dental manager sat with him and held his hand, promising to be patient and gentle with him and to work at his pace. When Samuel left, the dental manager doubted he would ever return. But a week later, the clinic received a call from him to set up another appointment. Samuel was still comforted by the gentle hand of the dental manager during his second and third appointments. By his fourth visit a month later, he fell asleep in the chair for two and a half hours! When the dental manager asked him how he could sleep through a full dental procedure, Samuel simply said, “I felt safe.” 

SonBridge Thrift&Gift Store employee Mara has been working at the store for seven years. She came broken after several terrible life experiences and was in need of healing. Although she first arrived at SonBridge needing help, she now extends the touch of healing to others. “I’ve learned so much at SonBridge,” Mara says. “I’ve grown into who I am today because of the people I’ve met and the work I’ve done here. It has touched me in unbelievable ways.” 

In late February, SonBridge held their annual Constituency Meeting, where members of eight constituent churches gathered to learn about and vote on decisions for the year to come. Opening the meeting with a devotional thought was David Jamieson, UCC president. Jamieson shared about how Jesus never let go of those who needed Him. He reached out to those who society had marginalized, like lepers and tax collectors, and reawakened their humanity, by touching them, both physically and spiritually. Jesus was even aware of the financial state of those he served, by healing those who were sick and allowing them to provide for themselves and their families once again. Jamieson took the hand of SonBridge’s executive assistant Kitty Haney, illustrating how tenaciously Jesus holds on to us, his sinners in need of healing and his sheep in need of finding. 

Every day, people walk into SonBridge in need of restoration; sometimes financial, sometimes material, sometimes physical, but always spiritual. The mission of SonBridge is to restore hope and wholeness, while sharing God’s love, to all who are broken. Whether it’s through the calming, appropriate touch of a hand, a hug between friends, the touch of hope for a struggling family or a spiritual touch through prayer, SonBridge is daily touching the hearts, hands, and lives of those they serve.