Community
The annual Evening Under the Stars benefitting the Martha’s Vineyard cancer support group is on Tuesday, May 14, at Lattanzi’s Restaurant, 19 Church street in Edgartown, beginning at 6 p.m. The charitable group, now in its 26th year, provides emotional and financial support to Island cancer patients and their families. More than 400 Vineyard families have received assistance, totaling over $58,000 in grants last year alone. More than $500,000 has been given over the years to those on the Vineyard dealing with the stress that comes with cancer.
More than 600 cyclists showed up at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School on a sunny, breezy morning to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Boys' and Girls' Club.
The Martha’s Vineyard Family Center, which has offered free classes, play groups and educational support to Island families with young children for 16 years, will relocate from the regional high school to the Nathan Mayhew Seminar campus in Vineyard Haven in the fall.
“We’re very excited to have a new home,” said Nell Coogan, development director for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, on Friday. “We think it’s going to be a great spot.”
The community center at Woodside Village is a comfortable place with a decorated tree in one corner and a wall of drawings. “You are my BFF,” reads one.
The drawings are created by children in the afterschool programs at the YMCA who visit Woodside once a week as part of the Island Elderly Housing Bridging program, the brainchild of Blueberry Van driver Kevin McFarland.
“It’s a long walk,” said kindergartner Kamari Clements of the journey from the Y to the community center next door.
It was a tough winter on the Vineyard. One place where this was keenly felt was the Island Food Pantry. Armen Hanjian, food pantry coordinator, said that while the number of people served at the pantry this past winter was slightly down, the pantry spent considerably more than ever before: $106,007, up $10,661.
The annual children’s trout tournament starts tomorrow morning at “first light.” But securing a choice fishing spot can often require a wander in the dark with a flashlight. The fishing contest at the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank’s Duarte’s Pond, off Lambert’s Cove Road, is for children 14 years old and younger and its free. There are plenty of prizes on the line including two brand new bicycles.