Need a hug?

There's a service for that. Jackie Samuel cozies up with the affection deprived in private snuggle sessions for $60 an hour. The 30-year-old single mom has been capitalizing on cuddles since she launched The Snuggery last June.

And customers appear to be embracing the idea. Samuel said she is so busy she hired another employee and moved the business from her Rochester, N.Y. home to a commercial building -- furnished with a bed and a couch for spooning. She says her snuggling revenues help support her nine-year-old son and provide "the healing power of touch" for her clients, mainly widowed and divorced men between the ages of 21-87. "They look forward to it. It's fulfilling for me and I enjoy cuddling," the petite brunette said.

She and her staff member, Colleen, do about 30 hours of cuddling a week. Occasionally they snuggle together with clients for $120 an hour. Samuel said the unusual business raises eyebrows and she admits she's sometimes accused of being a prostitute.

She says she explains the rules with the customers before they spoon. There's no sex, she says, and clothing -- usually they both wear pajamas -- stays on. No similar pay-for-hug businesses exist in Canada. But affection seekers flock to Cuddle Party workshops in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver to partake activities such as "massage trains" and "puppy piles."

At the events, attendees give and receive hand massages, back rubs and hold each other one-on-one or in groups.

"If everyone went to cuddle parties there would a lot less road rage," said frequent partygoer and divorcee Janice Fleming, 58, from Calgary. Human touch is known to release the happiness hormone oxytocin and decrease the stress hormone cortisol.

Donna Malchuk, 54, from Calgary, is a certified Cuddle Party facilitator and holds the "workshops" on the first Friday of each month in a conference room in her basement with mattresses on the floor. Malchuk admits she sometimes gets odd reactions when she tells strangers what she does for work.

"They say, 'What? That's sick. Why would you want to do that? I don't want strangers touching me.'"

But she says her grown children and friends call her the Hug Lady so it was natural for her to become a cuddle host. Cuddle Party enthusiasts say Canadians tend to think hugs or massages always lead to sex. Malchuk said that's one of the things that's discussed when the soiree begins, and verbal permission must be given before any and all touching.

"You don't have to do anything at the party you don't want to do," she said.

Many of the people who go are divorced and single, and lack physical contact in their day-to-day lives.

"I'm a touchy feely guy. There's not a lot of places to be able to do that and not get grief for it," said Marino DeNapoli, 51, who is divorced and has been to about 20 parties. "It's a matter of having a hug, having a conversation. The euphoria that you get from that stays with you for a long time."

He says the parties are not for everybody. Ironically, Samuel said she'd never go to a Cuddle Party because it would be too "awkward."

"You would think I'd be used to cuddling in any setting, but I like one-on-one the best."