Friends of the Island Food Pantry marked its second anniversary with volunteers continuing their year-round food collection program on behalf on the Island’s needy families, seniors and seasonally unemployed residents.

The group formed in late 2008 as the Island Food Pantry began to experience sharply increasing food demand and growing shortages. Members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha’s Vineyard came up with a simple idea: Volunteers go directly to the source of nonperishable food, the Island’s supermarkets, and ask shoppers entering the store to consider picking up an item for the food pantry while in the store. They’re given a shopping list indicating items the pantry actually needs. The response is over 90 per cent positive, with many shoppers donating multiple items. Week in, week out, Friends of the Island Food Pantry can be found at Cronig’s, Stop & Shop, and other Island markets.

When the food pantry closes in April, the volunteers carry on over the summer on behalf of Serving Hands Distribution in Vineyard Haven. The group’s coordinator, Jack Street of Vineyard Haven, notes that “The generosity of shoppers in this caring community is just incredible. The volume of food and personal care items we’ve been able to deliver to the food pantries over two years is now in the range of eight to nine tons. That’s made a difference.”