I want to thank you for your generosity providing myself and my nursing class with nursing supply bags this semester. As someone returning to school after many years, this gift has been an encouragement to me that people out there are supportive of these efforts. I looked up Mary Porcari’s story after receiving the gift and this is also inspiring and encouraging to me as she also was a mother juggling many responsibilities when she started down the road of nursing. Thank you for supporting students in nursing. It means a lot!

I cannot express enough gratitude for your generosity. Your awards to help nursing students at MCC has immensely helped our new family in more ways than just financially. With the early arrival of our son, along with bad luck and going on maternity leave from my job early, there wouldn’t have been a way to afford our rent this December. I am truly so thankful for your gift and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Whether our dedicated students are working toward their first degree or retraining for a new career, they are taking an essential step toward their future success – a step that benefits our entire community. Your support makes this change possible, one graduate, one family, one neighborhood at a time.

Since the fund’s inception, countless nursing students have been able to achieve their goal of becoming a Registered Nurse despite significant unexpected financial burdens. In turn, these successful graduate nurses are hired into the local community to provide high-quality patient-centered care….. The MCC Nursing Department is proud to have served as your first funding partner and we are excited to learn of the family’s goal to implement this successful program statewide.

Our students, almost all of whom are adult students with multiple other life responsibilities, face situations that I cannot imagine overcoming. Yet they persevere, sacrifice and work so hard that they actually do succeed. When I see them at their pinning ceremony, proud and accomplished, I can only marvel at the achievement that they have reached. You are part of that achievement for several individuals who would have never walked across that stage without that little bit of life-changing support they received because of your contribution.

The Porcari family wanted their philanthropy to make an immediate, material impact during the coronavirus crisis that has put so many of our nursing graduates on the front lines. Created by a family that stays connected and continues to give back to their hometown, the Mary Porcari Brady Emergency Student Support Fund is another example of the character of people raised in the Greater Rochester area, no matter where they currently live.

The economic burden the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on our students right now is staggering,  This financial support means so much to our students and the Rochester health care community. The Mary Porcari Brady Fund has been an integral partner in supporting MCC students dream of becoming a registered nurse. The timing of this grant is especially appreciated as 2020 is the Year of the Nurse, underscoring the added importance of nursing careers at this time.