To the Editor:
This Thanksgiving, when it is time to sit down to your feast of bounty, there will be many families that will not be able to enjoy such a meal. One in nine Vineyard families find themselves without consistent access to adequate food throughout the year. Just when it’s time for families to sit down and celebrate together, many are finding themselves in dire straits.
Family to Family, through the Vineyard Committee on Hunger, offers a program where one family can purchase all the ingredients for another family’s holiday meal. Last year we served more than 7,916 pounds of food and served more than 197 families with 435 individuals, 110 children, and 90 seniors. This year we’re expecting more.
The Island community has been very generous in the past, but demand keeps going up. This year like every year we start to worry whether we’ll have enough money to keep the program going. So, we’re appealing for help. We suggest that families who can afford to do so, donate $25, which is the approximate cost of one family’s package. For $25, one Island family can provide another family all the ingredients for a traditional repast. What better way to demonstrate a true feeling of a Vineyard Thanksgiving?
We invite readers to share in the neighborly feeling. Help at Vineyard Committee on Hunger. PO Box 4685, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568. Please indicate in the memo section of your check that it is for Family to Family. Call me with questions, 508-693-5339.
Betty Burton
Vineyard Haven
