our story
Today the Maria Love Convalescent Fund is led by an Executive Director and over 40 dedicated Board of Directors. Our mission is clear: we are a bridge to independence providing interim financial assistance to qualifying people of Erie County with convalescent care needs. The purpose of the Board is to sustain this mission through our commitment to service and fostering name recognition of the Fund and understanding of our role in the community. We rely on the many talents of our board members to serve, innovate, and collaborate.
Our Founder, Maria Maltby Love always held a deep concern for the health and welfare of others. Born in Clarence, NY in 1840, she lived in a time wrought with change, for her beloved Buffalo, NY. Maria’s father, Judge Thomas C. Love, was a prominent social humanitarian, political statesman, and the first Surrogate Judge of Erie County with the responsibility of safeguarding the interests of children placed in the care of the court. Her mother was known for her acts of kindness and charity. As prominent members of the community, they enlightened young Maria to the plight of others who were less fortunate. Maria, (pronounced as though spelled Mariah), along with her three siblings, lived a close-knit family life with a firsthand view of humanitarian efforts to find solutions to society’s problems. Her parents provided Maria and her siblings a legacy of sympathy for those suffering from poverty and servitude, as well as patriotism, independence of spirit, determination for a cause, and traits of benevolence and personal kindness.
As Maria approached adulthood and after visiting her first Creche (daycare) in Paris, she began believing she could create one in Buffalo, sharing, “In 1861 when I was a girl of twenty, I was traveling in Europe, and in Paris I saw my first Creche. I had read shocking articles in the newspapers at home about accidents to children left to take care of themselves while their mothers were out at work, and the accounts had made a deep impression upon m z
Maria Love founded the Fitch Creche in 1881 at the corner of Swan St. and Michigan Ave. Benjamin Fitch, a native Buffalonian and wealthy New York City philanthropist, donated this building. Initially, the 25 members of the Fitch Crèche Advisory Board paid for the costs of respite care. They also paid for the Fresh Air Camps and time at Cradle Beach during the summer and for mothers to go. She worked with William Prior Letchworth to plan for children from Buffalo orphanages to have two-week stays at his home at Glen Iris.
As the numbers of those in need grew, and the costs of the venture became too great for personal philanthropy, Maria Love established the Convalescent Fund. In 1903, Maria Love organized a group of thirty-one prominent Buffalo women to raise funds and implement a program of convalescent respite care for mothers and their children: establishing the beginning of over 100 years of service to families in Erie County.
As leaders in the community, our Board of Directors share a commitment to serve, sustain, and grow the Mission of Maria Love through our gifts of time, financial resources, fund-raising, and teamwork.
We invite you to support the Mission of the Maria Love Convalescent Fund.
Historical information from the book, MARIA M. LOVE THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF A SOCIAL WORK PIONEER, by Karen Berner Little.