Standard Process donates $250,000 for Healing Garden

Posted January 16, 2008

Standard Process, a company that provides nutritional whole food supplements to health care professionals, donated $250,000 to Northwestern Health Sciences University to assist with the creation of a healing garden.

The Standard Process Healing Garden, which is being planned by MOM’s Landscaping and Design, will be a place for students, employees and alumni to enjoy, said Brady Forseth, BA, director of development at Northwestern.

“This is an extremely generous gift to Northwestern,” Forseth said. “It is because of partners like this that we are able to fulfill our mission of becoming the nation’s university of choice for natural health care. We are in awe of their generosity.”

According to Mark Zeigler, DC, president of Northwestern, the new landscape design will provide the University with a uniquely memorable “central space” that will become a hub of activity for our campus community and its visitors.

The healing garden will be part of the new courtyard, next to the building addition currently being built and will feature regional plants and eight sensory gardens planted with perennials that are specific to a theme, such as an aromatherapy garden, according to the MOM’S Landscaping plan. The Healing Garden will be approximately 11,000 square feet.

The plan also includes four water features that represent both the four colleges/schools of Northwestern and the four foundational elements of the University’s mission. These are education, research, clinical service and community involvement. These water features each boast a seven-foot-tall bubbling basalt column, a piece of stone that is naturally columnar and sits in a surround of River Jack pebbles, small rounded boulders that accent the basalt and support the flow of water.

The garden is designed with a labyrinth in the middle and includes outdoor “rooms” for smaller groups to use, yet is also designed to accommodate larger groups for events such as an alumni gathering.

Forseth said he is pleased with MOM’S proposal.

“We are excited about the final product,” Forseth said. “MOM’S takes pride in having a holistic approach, which really communicates what Northwestern is all about. Charles DuBois, the president of Standard Process, is very excited about this as well and has always had a love of landscape design.”

In the future, there will also be additional naming opportunities in the garden, Forseth noted, including certain water elements and stones, in addition to other elements. More information about this should be available in early February, during the chiropractic homecoming celebration, Forseth said, at which time the plans for the courtyard and garden will be unveiled.

Office of Alumni, Development and Career Services
Phone: (800/952) 888-4777, ext. 412 or ext. 237
Email: giving@nwhealth.edu