On May 31, the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center hosted a fundraiser for the earthquake victims in Nepal. It was a wonderful success, selling out two days before the event. We raised almost $3,000 that will be donated to the American Jewish World Service, who have partners on the ground in Nepal, helping the most disenfranchised of the Nepalese community.

I would like to thank Rabbi Caryn Broitman, the Hebrew Center and all the volunteers for hosting this event and underwriting it, so that every dollar we raised can go directly to the people who are in need.

The fundraiser was a collaboration of many people of different faiths in the Island community. Almost everything for the evening was donated. Food was generously donated by Cronig’s Market, Stop and Shop, and the Reliable Market. Seaside Celebrations, Island Source, and Morrice Florist all contributed their efforts for the evening.

The meal was a traditional Indian feast, cooked and served by Uma and Priya Datta, Kiran Chibber, and Kim Hilliard, with the help of Anne Colangeli to rave reviews.

Rhododendrons are the national flower of Nepal, and luckily they are in bloom right now. Peter Norris and Amy Rugel donated some of their very rare varieties for our tables, and Elliot Kronstein welcomed us to fill in with their lovely blooms as well.

The jazz musicians that performed that night, delighting the audience, came down from the Boston area: Greta Bro doing vocals, Stan Strickland on sax and Steve Travis on piano.

We also heard from Adrian Smith, who just got back from Nepal, giving us a moving view of the villagers in the earthquake zone that we did not get from the news reports.

A lovely surprise of the evening was the offering of Island third grader Nikeya Tankard, whose family is Nepalese. Nikeya made and sold bracelets to raise money for Nepal, and donated it to the Hebrew Center that night.

For those of us who worked on this event, it was an opportunity to come together to help relieve a little bit of suffering in the world. Our lives are so busy, we are grateful to be able to give back.

Thank you to the Island community for supporting this event.

Kanta Lipksy
West Tisbury