The Health Patch Story
We think we have the best job in the world. In the spring of 1997, realizing we had passed 50 years of age, had no retirement plans and had many amends to make based on Emerson’s definition of success, we began to look for a way to place our future (with the help of God) in our own hands and provide a real service to our fellow men and women at the same time.
Knowing most of our friends had become disillusioned with the state of our healthcare system, a curative system rather than a preventive one, and with many of them were turning to alternative medicine, we decided to open an herb store.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.”
~Thomas Edison
We prepared a 20-point checklist by which to grade herb suppliers and studied 22 companies. Nature’s Sunshine ranked number one in 19 of the 20 categories. So, we found a man who sold Nature’s Sunshine products and asked him to sponsor us.
Two weeks later, in June of 1997, we opened our little herb shop in Midwest City, Oklahoma. My wife and I had gone by “Nana” and “Pawpaw” to our seven wonderful grandkids. We decided to play with those nicknames and the old jump rope song, “Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch….” & Nana’s Pawpaw Patch was born.
Our journey has confirmed our faith. We believe when God presented the earth to Adam and told him to “subdue” it, He was providing productive work for Adam. Knowing that man would fall and degeneration would ensue, God let Adam know that whatever resulted, He’d provided the nutrients needed for continued health.
According to Genesis 1:29-30, God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. …I give every green plant for food. And it was so.”
Dr. Joel Wallach, author of Dead Doctors Don’t Lie, said the genetic potential of a man is 120 years and if we die before that, we will die of an accident or a nutritional deficiency. The Bible confirms this potential in Genesis 6:3. We also believe with Dr. Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing,that, “given the proper nutrients, the body can heal itself.”
Our mission is to educate others on how to take charge of their own health, help them discover what supplements are beneficial and provide those supplements. We also want to aid others who wish to join us in this endeavor.
“To laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better,
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition,
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
