FDU Partners with Veterans Valor to Support Healing Garden at Frelinghuysen Arboretum
Soon veterans, families and visitors will be able to visit a new Healing Garden at Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morris Township, N.J.
The University is one of several community partner organizations and institutions supporting the garden.
“The garden will offer veterans and visitors a sense of calm and a sense of connection to nature,” says Martha Garcia, director of veterans services at FDU. “Our hope is that the garden will help veterans and families feel supported through tough times. The Healing Garden will be a space that honors the service and sacrifice of our veterans, while providing a peaceful environment for reflection, connection and healing.”
In the spring of 2025, Garcia met with Will Draper, executive director of Veterans Valor, a nonprofit offshoot of the Rotary Club of Morristown, N.J., “dedicated to healing veterans through the restorative power of nature, art and human connection.” With Veterans Valor and the Rotary Club spearheading the project, Draper asked Garcia and FDU to join the effort.
“The Healing Garden is designed as a journey through distinct phases of a wounded veteran’s experience, such as medevac, triage and hospital care, recovery and new life. There will also be a tribute to those veterans who didn’t make it, either because they died in combat, or lost the inner war after they got home. The fallen garden is the current focus for fundraising, as new life and the gateway to the garden are already funded,” says Draper. “We want visitors — veterans and civilians alike — to take that journey and feel it, not just observe it.”
Community representatives attended a groundbreaking and tree planting ceremony on November 13, 2025. Construction planning and work are underway in two of the garden spaces, with more to come as funding is secured.
One of FDU’s major contributions to the project will be a digital spine, developed by its Center for Artificial Intelligence. Visitors will be able to access the Pathway to Peace Digital Spine via their smartphones and will be guided by AI docents. Draper aspires to one day tie in a network of holographic terminals.