The Associated Charities, chartered by the state of Vermont in 1915, was formed by a group of women in the late 1800s and envisioned as a "rainy day fund" for less fortunate people. Anne Mason became president in 1951, inheriting the position from her grandmother, Annie M. Brown, president for 35 years. Brown and a neighbor, Jane Tyler, made the first delivery of food baskets with a horse and buggy. The early membership included Augusta Wells, Vinnie Freeman, Jane Foster, Jane Tyler, Annie Brown, and Minnie Rawson. Florence H. Wells served as the group's voluntary ombudsman for the majority of her life. The older membership having died, Mason allocated the remaining funds to eight separate local agencies and the organization dissolved.