Anne Ryall Sylvester
Stretch the season
Gardens are at their end-of-season best, the Farmers Market full of beautiful produce and CSAs delivering an abundance of summer goodness. What to do...
Let it grow
The community garden on the Woodside campus of Island Elderly Housing (IEH) in Oak Bluffs produces food, flowers, exercise opportunities, and emotional wellbeing for...
Gardens among friends
Collaboration makes the Family2Family’s huge holiday food giveaways run smoothly, according to organizer Betty Burton. Three times a year, this Vineyard Committee on Hunger...
Up and running
This Saturday, April 30, YMCAs all over the country will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Healthy Kids Day, the Y’s national initiative to improve...
Taking care
Seemingly everywhere across the Island, the Vineyard’s two community health nurses fulfill a wide mandate. In private homes checking on the welfare of newborns...
Could it work for you?
Chronic pain and other ills of advancing age have a new treatment option available on the Vineyard: medical marijuana. It's been available off-Island both...
Flowers among friends
“Gardening is a multicomponent physical activity that includes aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and balance training elements, and counts toward weekly exercise recommendations.” That’s according to the...
Medicare now covers acupuncture
Good news for the over-65 crowd: Medicare now covers an effective, nonpharmaceutical, nonsurgical treatment for chronic pain: acupuncture.
Acupuncture is administered by inserting tiny needles...
Shaping up
Leila McCarter was not alone. Joyous reunions amid social distancing and constant cleaning marked the first phase of reopening of the YMCA of Martha’s...
Growing in the garden
Call it soil therapy. Call them Wednesday workdays. For more than three decades volunteers have gathered weekly on Wednesdays for Chore Day at the...
The multitalented Judy Kranz
Wednesday is Judy Kranz day at the YMCA — a day when the professional dancer turned Pilates guru closes her Oak Bluffs Pilates studio...
Cooking up a collaborative dish at Alex’s Place
“Laughter is brightest in the place where food is.” –Irish proverb
At a time when the microwave is arguably the most used kitchen appliance, Island...
Rehab in a healing garden
When the new Martha’s Vineyard Hospital was in the planning stages a decade ago, there was a movement rippling across Europe and the United...
Healthy and happy
French fries were on the cafe menu when the YMCA first opened, and Coke Classic could be found in the vending machine. Over time,...
Making a splash
When the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard opened nine years ago, aquatics director Kelly Neadow saw a need for water safety education for children. We...
Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA
On Saturday, May 4, from 2:30 to 4:30 pm, the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard will celebrate its annual Healthy Kids Day — a national...
Successfully aging on Martha’s Vineyard
“Successful aging” is a term academics have begun using to describe a healthy aging lifestyle. The YMCA Martha’s Vineyard recently launched a program centered...