New Haven Independent

Fair Haven’s Mary Wade Home, which provides care for the elderly, was one of only two facilities in the nation to win the Pathways to Greatness in Aging Services Award. At Thursday night’s Fair Haven Management Team Meeting, Alders Erin Sturgis-Pascale and Joe Rodriguez presented Mary Wade’s Executive Director, David Hunter with an official Board of Aldermen Citation recognizing this tremendous achievement.

Not only is the Mary Wade Home leading the way for exemplary elderly services nationwide, but they continue to set the highest standard for institutional engagement of the surrounding neighborhood. With the skilled outreach of Mary Wade’s Rufina Durazzo, the neighborhood has benefited from this institution’s presence in a number of ways.

The lovely Adult Day Center is well-known to all the neighborhood activists, as the doors are always open for community meetings, often with the tables set with refreshments. Many a Fair Haven resident has strolled the hallways lined with historical pictures of what was once known as the “Home for the Friendless” founded in 1866.

Mary Wade provides free weekend transportation service for neighborhood seniors on the weekends and provides exceptional support to the Atwater Street Block Watch. While expansion is always controversial, the neighborhood has been fully engaged in the
development of the facilities future plans.

Additionally, a number of houses in the neighborhood have been purchased by the Mary Wade Home and tastefully rehabilitated, offering safe and affordable housing for a number of Fair Haven residents. Originally, it was planned to be affordable housing for
Mary Wade employees, but most are paid too much to qualify! So, they have developed a grant program that provides financial assistance to employees who wish to buy a home in the neighborhood.

Many others might have chosen to build walls to close out our neighborhood, but Mr. Hunter believes in Fair Haven. He is busy spreading the gospel to other facility operators around the nation of how urban community development has been one of the keys to his success. The charity and hope that was invested in our neighborhood in 1866 continues to this day at the Mary Wade Home.