In 1969, Mary Davis Porcari lost the youngest of her five children, Mary Elizabeth, to a rare genetic disorder. Following this tragedy, Mary was determined to become a Registered Nurse – like her mother before her.

While raising her surviving children at home, Mary enrolled in the nursing program at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., studying nights, weekends and holidays to earn her RN in 1972. Mary went on to a career as a Medical-Surgical nurse, also volunteering at local non-profits when time allowed.

Remarried, Mary Porcari Brady retired in 2000, passing unexpectedly in 2001.

With their late Mom’s lessons of service and committing to something larger than oneself in mind, in 2005 her four surviving children approached the Monroe Community College School of Nursing and asked them to identify an unmet need. In 2006, the MPB Fund was born.