The Pittsburgh Foundation

Fruit and Flower Mission Fund

Established: 10/15/2007

The Fruit and Flower Mission is an organization that evokes an image straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The Mission was started after the Civil War in 1865, when members of the Subsistence or Sanitary Commission would visit wounded Union and Confederate soldiers passing through the city or in local hospitals, bringing them books, home grown flowers, and fruit.

Through the years the group broadened its mission to providing nursing assistance in the home to patients over the age of 65, many victims of strokes, cancer, or heart problems. While the Mission's members agreed the name was a bit anachronistic, they treasured their history and choose to keep it.

In 2007, The Fruit and Flower Mission was dissolved as a charitable organization and members established a fund with the Pittsburgh Foundation to carry on the legacy.

The fund supports the Health Hope Network, formerly the Visiting Nurse Foundation, until such time that the network ceases to exist at which time the funds will be used solely and exclusively to provide accessible and affordable services to the needs of seniors and at-risk populations in Allegheny County.

Type of Fund

  • Field of Interest