Community
Vineyard Pedicab entrepreneurs Will and John Pasquina will host the first Pan-Martha Challenge, a 40-mile bikeathon across the Vineyard to raise money for cancer research and treatment at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, on Oct. 4 at 9:30 a.m.
Participants are asked to gather donations before pedaling from the Flying Horses Carousel in Oak Bluffs to the cliffs of Aquinnah, a route one-fifth the length of the statewide charity event it mimics, the Pan-Mass Challenge.
Fine Finish for Featherstone Festival
Featherstone’s Festival of Poetry’s very successful summer season is wrapping up with a reading by Naomi Shihab Nye, an award-winning Palestinian-American poet whose works have garnered multiple awards over the years. Fellow poet William Stafford said of Ms. Nye, “Her poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life.”
Girls Are Great
This Saturday, August 29, the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts will host “Girls are Great! Let’s Celebrate!,” a cocktail reception to benefit YWCA girls after-school and summer programs from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Farm Neck Café, 1 Farm Neck Way, Oak Bluffs.
Tickets to the reception are $125 per person and include: food, open bar, and entertainment by violinist Nora St. Martin and vocalist Tanisha Sullivan. Tickets can be purchased at ywcasema.org. For details, call 508-999-3255.
Island Musicians Play Hospice Benefit
More than $16,000 was raised for the benefit of the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard last week at a West Tisbury fundraiser.
Held in the garden of the late Nina Schneider, the party was hosted by James and Holly Coyne, the new owners of the Schneider house and its award-winning garden. More than 100 guests strolled the garden grounds trying to decide which of the eight cats, two dogs and a guinea pig might be appropriate for their home. Pictures of the animals were displayed
YWCA Southeastern Massachusetts will host Girls are Great! Let’s Celebrate!, a cocktail reception to benefit YWCA girls’ after-school and summer programs. The fundraiser will be held on the Vineyard on Saturday, August 29, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Farm Neck Café in Oak Bluffs. YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women and girls. The organization’s youth programs have given girls ages 10-14 the chance to learn various tools and values in becoming teens with well-rounded personalities.