Martha's Vineyard Rachel Kovac

Santa Claus Lady: Red Stocking Begins Season Helping Needy

Rachel Kovac | Thursday, November 24 2005 - 7:00pm

More than a decade ago Ida (Buzzy) Gardner wrote a story about a woman who brought small toys to young children on Martha's Vineyard. The Santa Claus Lady was her name, and as the story goes she "brought Christmas in tiny packages wrapped in odd pieces of paper tightly tied with bits of ribbon."

Red Stocking Fund

Gold Anniversary: Youth Hostel Celebrates 50; Memories Fly

Rachel Kovac

A story exists for everyone who stays at the Lillian Manter Memorial Hostel. For Lillian Manter it was a love of serving others. For Tom Thatcher it was a business and home. For Arlo Guthrie it was the beginning of a song. For Amanda Cohen it was a home and playground. And for Monroe Sheppard it is one more stop in his years of involvement with hostels. This past weekend on the 50th anniversary of the building's opening, many former hostellers, staff and family returned to celebrate and share memories. Since its current inception the hostel has welcomed more than 100,000 guests. Hostelling International USA hoped to use the weekend celebration as a way to acknowledge the Island's hospitality.

Channel Needs Emergency Dredging

Rachel Kovac

Channel Needs Emergency Dredging

By RACHEL KOVAC

Extreme silting and clogging in the channel beneath the Little Bridge in Oak Bluffs have prompted an emergency dredging project to protect the ecosystem in Sengekontacket Pond.

"It is very important for the life of the pond to flush," said county manager E. Winn Davis. "That is to say every time the tide changes it's brining in new nutrients and taking out nutrients."