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Milestones: Mary Wade Home
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Business New Haven
11/24/2003
By: Karen Singer
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Mary Wade Home
118 Clinton Ave.
New Haven, CT 06513
Tel: 203-562-7222
Fax: 203-562-1639
Web: N/A
Ownership: Non-profit directed by volunteer board of managers
Milestone: 137 years
Timeline: On September 8, 1866, a group of well-to-do women met at the New Haven home of cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney to discuss establishing a shelter for unwed pregnant women. Though there were other charitable organizations in the area, none specifically addressed the needs of these "vagrant, idle and homeless girls."
A week later, the women elected a board and soon purchased a house in Fair Haven, then a thriving oystering community.
The Home for the Friendless opened on December 2, 1866, with one of the society women, the wife of Yale benefactor Joseph Sheffield, as its first president.
Residents were referred to as "inmates," and the characterization "betrayed girls" referred to those giving birth out of wedlock. They were allowed to stay only six months and received domestic service training.
Before long the home changed its admissions policy to include women looking for work or recovering from medical problems, destitute women with children and impecunious older women.
The Home for the Friendless became known as the Mary Wade Home in the late 1890s after a leading Connecticut philanthropist, Lucy Hall Boardman, donated $20,000 for a new wing and asked that it be named for her sister.
More older women were admitted after 1902, when another shelter, the Florence Crittenton Home, opened for unwed mothers and their children.
Caring for older adults, female and male (men were first admitted in 1982), remains the primary focus of the Mary Wade Home today. In addition to assisted-living rooms, the facility provides skilled nursing beds, too.
Around 107 residents now live at the home, according to CEO David V. Hunter. An additional 55 attend an adult day-care program.
Achievements and Accomplishments: Over the years, the Mary Wade Home has remained true to its original mission, providing shelter and education to its residents.
And, it has remained a non-profit, which is something of a rarity in the senior-care industry, according to Hunter. "Non-profits end to be multi-faceted," he says, adding, " We have quite a few programs under one roof."
Current programs include an outpatient rehabilitation clinic, a weekend transportation program that is free to local residents, and the adult day-care program, housed in a separate building that opened two years ago.
Hunter takes credit for encouraging the home's board of directors to allow men as residents. "I told them, 'If Yale can accept women, we can accept men,'" he recounts. Since then single men as well as married couples have lived at the Mary Wade Home.
Looking Back on a Changing Industry: The Mary Wade Home is working to adapt to the changing needs of its senior population. Anticipating swelling numbers of baby-boomers, Hunter is exploring the introduction of yoga, massage therapy and other types of wellness activities. A program also is underway to upgrade several neighborhood houses, which the home recently purchased with the aim of making them available to employees and local families.
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