Community
Nancy Kelly, chairman of the Decorator Show House and Gardens announced that Kayla Leonard has been selected to manage the five-month long event that will benefit Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard. “The excitement this project has generated was evident in the large number of qualified candidates that expressed an interest in this position. Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard is so pleased to have Kayla on board.”
The summer solstice is one of mankind’s most ancient and universally recognized holidays. Noontime on the longest day of the year marks the highest the sun will rise in the sky all year round. Every day that follows the solstice is progressively shorter, and the sun grows progressively lazier, until reaching its low point in December. For Islanders, the solstice marks the end of late spring’s easy charms, and the beginning of the summer hustle. For some seasonal residents, it represents the start of a new job; for others, a break from work.
There is a kinetic movement to the Taste of the Vineyard, the annual feast and fund-raiser for the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust. It’s the giddy energy of hundreds of people who skipped lunch, and maybe breakfast, playing gourmand for the night. Sampling. Sipping. Spying what’s ahead. Suddenly it’s forget the forks; it’s just finger food, faster and faster, with less and less room in the belly, until finally, barely two hours after the tent doors opened, there’s no right move but to dance.
Despite dismal weather conditions, the sixth annual American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Martha’s Vineyard raised more than $60,000 for cancer research and patient services in the walk through the night to help raise funds and cancer awareness.
Money for the Vineyard Food Pantry, now closed for the summer, comes from many different sources. Recently the cochairmen of last year’s Crop Walk, Phil Dietterich and Alden Besse, presented a check to Armen Hanjian, food pantry coordinator, for $5,113, earmarked to bolster the pantry coffers as it continues to provide food for Islanders in need.
High school drama students played in the Yard last weekend — performing in a new (for them) up-Island setting to match the students’ new much-upped fund-raising goal: enough money to take a strong ensemble to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next year.
This fundraiser was particularly significant for the drama department because of their long-term endeavor to raise $6,000 per student to participate in the Fringe, at the invitation of a national student theatre organization.