Three times each year — at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter — the Family to Family Holiday Meals program of the Vineyard Committee on Hunger provides ingredients for a healthy traditional holiday meal to those in need. Distributions take place at the First Baptist Church Parish House in Vineyard Haven on the Friday before each holiday, and are offered to families and individuals who qualify for federal assistance.

For Thanksgiving this year we provided meals to more than 200 families, over 500 people. In addition to staples like rice and canned tuna, each client received a turkey with all the fixings, including apples, oranges, onions, carrots, spinach and stuffing, as well as eggs, milk and lots of fresh vegetables.

On distribution day it’s 10 hours of controlled chaos as more than 50 volunteers sort 6,000 pounds of food into neat bundles, then welcome and register our clients, help them get their food to their homes or cars, and, after the last meal has been given, put the parish house back in order. At the end of the day we’re always exhausted, but happy to have helped our island friends and neighbors in such a meaningful and inclusive community event.

This year, like every year, we heard heartbreaking stories about the circumstances that led clients to our door. Many of our recipients are elders getting by on fixed incomes; some of these elders have other challenges as well, such as a chronic health condition, or responsibility for their own grown-up children who require special care, or grandchildren who have no one else to look after them. We saw young families struggling with various kinds of issues, people who have been victims of domestic abuse, people on the margins.

Family to Family gives not only a holiday meal but perhaps a bit of hope as well.

Our budget is now about $25 per basket, so the cost per distribution is about $25 times 220, or $5,500. Since we also do distributions at Christmas and Easter, each year we must raise nearly $20,000 just to stay afloat. Our cushion is tiny.

The committee on hunger is a 501c3 charity. We welcome contributions, whatever size. Checks can be made payable to Family to Family and sent to VCOH, P.O. Box 4685, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568.

Betty Burton

Vineyard Haven