Pianist David Crohan will share the stage with summer resident Caroline Sky as they perform a concert to benefit the Island Elderly Housing’s Quality of Life programs on Sunday, July 14 at 7:30 p.m. The concert is at the Old Whaling Church on Main street in Edgartown. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and a meet-the-artist reception will follow the performance.
Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door, and $15 for students ages 18 and under. They can be purchased at ticketsmv.com, daRosa’s, Alley’s General Store, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore and Edgartown Books.
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.
The Vineyard Health Care Access Program and Island Elderly Housing, Inc. have been named recipients of Cape and Islands United Way community investment grants. A total of $600,000 has been allocated to 35 local programs on the Cape and Islands that serve the needs of children, families and aging and vulnerable populations. The Vineyard Health Care Access Program provides medication assistance to Island residents. Island Elderly housing sponsors a community dinner program.
For 30 years it has been the Island’s best-kept secret.
And today Island Elderly Housing (IEH) also remains one of the Island’s best success stories, thanks in part to the original founders, Margaret Love, Marguerite Bergstrom and Carol Lashnits, who had a strong and far-sighted vision of what was needed for not only the elder citizens of the Vineyard, but for its disabled population as well.