Families Helping Families

Ordered the Thanksgiving turkey yet? Has holiday shopping begun to creep into already-crowded thoughts as you navigate another busy week of work and family life? This is the oncoming season of plenty — and more often than not indulgence in the form of too much food and money spent on gifts for loved ones. It is also the season to remember that there are many Islanders who have so little they must choose between a Thanksgiving turkey and paying the oil bill so the children can be warm enough this winter. Left with such a choice, the table will be bare this Thanksgiving.

Betty Burton, one of many Island volunteers who sponsor the Family to Family and Serving Hands program, an arm of the Vineyard Committee on Hunger, wants to make sure that does not happen. To that end she and others were busy packing up Thanksgiving food baskets earlier this week that will go to needy Islanders. The First Baptist Church parish house in Vineyard Haven was the scene of all this good work, with a remarkable quantity of food donated by the Reliable Market in Oak Bluffs.

The good works helping others do not stop there. Tomorrow the Vineyard Harley Riders will make their annual Toys for Tots ride that benefits the Red Stocking Fund which provides gifts for needy children at Christmas.

Donations are badly needed for both these vital funds. The addresses are: Vineyard Committee on Hunger, P.O. Box 4685, Vineyard Haven MA 02568, or Red Stocking, P.O. Box 74, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.