Aquinnah

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It is hard for me to talk about life on our Island this week without thinking about life on another island, Haiti, which, as we all know, suffered a horrific earthquake last week. Even though it is the dead of winter right now and there is no real industry happening right now in Aquinnah with the scalloping season a bust, we have so much. We may all be on tight winter budgets, but we are alive and surrounded by friends and family. If you would like to make donations to assist the people of Haiti, there are two local organizations, Martha’s Vineyard Fish Farm and Peace Quilts that are accepting donations, their web sites are fishfarmhaiti.org and haitipeacequilts.org, respectively. You can also go to doctorswithoutborders.org and unicefusa.org for more information on what you can do to help.

There is a local Aquinnah institution that needs some assistance right now as well. The Community Baptist Church is asking for $5 donations from friends and family to get through the next few months.

The Aquinnah Public Library has scheduled some events for the next few months. Starting tonight, from 5 to 7 every Thursday will be game night at the library. There will be a coffee hour from 10 to 11 am on Saturdays with free coffee and a chance to come and socialize with your neighbors, beginning on January 30. Over February school break there will be a family movie afternoon, more details on that as it gets closer. As always, story and art time is Saturday at 11 am. Fine amnesty continues through the end of January. Please bring in a non-perishable food item to donate to the Food Pantry to wipe out any past fines.

Please keep June Manning in your thoughts next week as she goes to the hospital for an operation to help her with her cardiovascular disease. Best of luck, June, for a speedy recovery.

I went to Joanie and Richard’s this past Sunday for their salon and ran into Heather Hall, who used to live on the Island but now calls Northampton her home, although she visits here as much as she can. She was showing off some of her amazing felt flower necklaces and there was talk of a future photo shoot at Joanie and Richard’s with everyone modeling Heather’s pieces. I asked her at one point how she first met our hosts and she said, “It’s a mystery.”

The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival will hold one more Family. Film. Feast. event Saturday, Jan. 30, at 5 pm at the Chilmark Community Center. There will be local food, lots of kids, and a movie for all ages. This has been a really great event for families in the winter.

Keep the news coming and enjoy the mild weather while it lasts.