Islanders helping Islanders

Volunteers bustled in and out of the Baptist Parish House in Vineyard Haven on Friday morning, carrying bags full of vegetables, sorting cans of cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree, breaking down cardboard boxes, and organizing a pile of frozen poultry. 

With Thanksgiving less than a week away, Islanders were gathered to help their neighbors in need prepare their holiday meals.

As a part of Island Grown Initiative’s Family to Family and Serving Hands programs, up to 40 volunteers gathered on Friday to serve bags of food to Vineyarders. 

Alicia Nicholson, who was coordinating the volunteers, said this was a part of a monthly food giveaway program that expands on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. Roughly 160 turkeys, 40 chickens, and over 175 bags of produce — all sourced from Vineyard farms and parts of Western Massachusetts — were made available to Islanders on Friday. Nicholson said up to 80 deliveries would also be made. 

“The need is there,” Nicholson said. 

Merrick Carreiro, director of food equity at Island Grown Initiative, said the turnout was an “overwhelming amount of support.”

“It’s never gone this fast in terms of bagging,” Carreiro said. “It just goes to show how strong this community is. People really show up when there is a need.” 

The Friday event follows other initiatives recently launched by local farms and businesses to serve Islanders’ food needs, particularly when federal nutritional assistance programs were frozen during the government shutdown. 

Carreiro said there was an uptick in people interested in volunteering or donating when these programs, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were inaccessible. While these programs have been restored since the end of the shutdown, Carreiro hopes the drive to help doesn’t dissipate since food security is “always present here and seems to be continuing to rise.” This year, there was also a rise in new clients using the Island Food Pantry run by Island Grown Initiative. 

“We’re hoping that will continue because I think we’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of need,” Carreiro said. She highlighted that an impending cut to federal health insurance subsidies will further bite into grocery funds for some on top of the Vineyard’s already high cost of living. 

Uma Datta, an Oak Bluffs business owner and longtime volunteer of the food service programs on the Vineyard, said she especially tries to help during the holidays. She recalled recently seeing a long line of people at the Food Baskets pantry in Oak Bluffs when SNAP benefits were frozen. 

“It’s painful to see that many people there,” she said, but added that fortunately not as many were there after SNAP was restored. 

Datta also joined volunteers who guided the cars staged in the Saint Augustine Church parking lot. Three to four rows of roughly 8 cars each were waiting at a time. Volunteers at the Catholic church ushered out a few cars at a time so people could pick up food at the parish house. Recipients who spoke with the Times expressed their appreciation of the volunteer effort. 

“We’re just very grateful for it,” said Samantha Thurber while waiting in her truck. Thurber told the Times she is a single mother who can’t work and also takes care of her aging grandmother. The food giveaway was a big help for her family ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Waiting for his turn to leave the lot, Stanley Johnson said it was a “wonderful thing that they’re doing.” Johnson praised the Vineyard for being such a community-oriented place where people come together, especially with the holidays around the corner and looming economic uncertainties.

Back at the Baptist Parish House, volunteers carried food to people’s cars parked on Williams Street in a drive-thru system and members of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School wrestling team joined the effort. 

Odin Robinson, a junior on the team who’s volunteered during the holidays for the past few years, had recruited a group of his friends to help in the effort. He highlighted it was important for young people to help the Island community. 

“Some of the people here are not going to be able to do it in a few years,” Odin said. “There definitely needs to be more young people doing it to bring in that new generation.” 

Carreiro highlighted the fall and winter as a time when food assistance needs rise with seasonal unemployment and commended those who want to volunteer or donate. 

“We have so many people reach out to Island Grown Initiative during the holidays,” Carreiro said. “It’s a wonderful show of support.”