The We Energies Foundation is giving $500,000 to Franklin-based nonprofit organization the Conservancy for Healing and Heritage for a new public healing garden being developed in Franklin.
The grant will support the healing garden, which will be called We Energies Foundation Healing Garden, and a screened-in private gazebo on 36 acres of land adjacent to the Wheaton Franciscan Cancer Care-Reiman Center.
“The We Energies Foundation gift is another example of how the corporate community and We Energies, in particular, continues to support the well-being of the greater Milwaukee area,” said Michael Murry, chairman of Conservancy for Healing and Heritage. “Grants like this not only aid in the construction of the project but encourage others to support these types of efforts. We continue to hear daily from people across southeastern Wisconsin who express their desire to see the Conservancy completed.”
The Conservancy plans to begin construction in October. It has raised more than $3.1 million to date and is seeking another $1.5 million to complete the rest of the healing garden, lake and nature trails.
When finished, the project will include a healing garden, series of trails and an already-completed chapel that was donated by the Reiman Family Foundation. All of it will be available to the 7,000 cancer patients that the Reiman Center serves annually, as well as the public.
”The Conservancy’s efforts to protect the beautiful surroundings while creating a peaceful setting for visitors to focus on their well-being, embraces our foundation’s key areas of focus,” said Beth Straka, vice president of the We Energies Foundation and senior vice president of corporate communications and investor relations at WEC Energy Group, the holding company of We Energies. “We are very pleased to be sponsoring the healing garden and the east garden gazebo – and look forward to seeing the space develop into a place of tranquility and reflection.”
The Conservancy plans to offer healing classes and lectures in the chapel, opportunities for the community to maintain the garden and trails, as well as conservation and wildlife education.
