Nearly 75 years have passed since the first six Red Stocking Fund recipients most likely opened Donald Duck pull toys and Snoopy Sniffers instead of today’s more popular Furbys and Barbies. This year organizers Kerry Alley and Lorraine Clark are expecting the Red Stocking Fund to make Christmas dreams come true for approximately 475 children, from newborns to eighth graders.

Basting a golden turkey, the smell of pumpkin pie baking and some cranberry sauce are all part of the Thanksgiving holiday for most Island families. But for others, the day can bring disappointment rather than thanks, particularly when one’s grocery list has to be supplemented by free community food resources available just a few times a month.

To help out, Betty Burton began organizing the Family-to-Family program eight years ago as a way to provide neighbors who face financial hardship with a traditional holiday meal.

Even though folk musician Kevin Keady was singing, “You can’t always get what you want” at the opening Winter Farmers’ Market at the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall last Saturday, it would have been hard to agree with the lyrics. Everything from soap wrapped in alpaca fleece and wrinkle cream made from herbs and honey, to hot curried butternut squash and apple soup was available. Maybe you can really get what you want after all.

“Tikkun olam” is a Hebrew phrase meaning to repair or heal the world. On Wednesday, a couple of dozen students from the Hebrew School at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven did their part to make that a reality. They loaded 128 bags of nonperishable food into vehicles to be transported to the Island Food Pantry located a few blocks away at Christ United Methodist Church.