On behalf of the board of directors of Island Elderly Housing, Inc. (IEH), I write to share our gratitude for the dozens of people who came together to provide Thanksgiving dinners to our residents.

In years past, IEH staff member Kevin McFarland and his wife Maria prepared and served a Thanksgiving feast for the residents in our community room. This year, due to the Covid virus, a gathering of this type wasn’t possible.

Enter IEH services coordinator Nora Wilcox: working with board of health agents Meegan Lancaster (Oak Bluffs) and Maura Valley (Tisbury), and high school culinary arts instructors Kevin Crowell and Jack O’Malley, a plan was hatched to safely prepare and provide turkey and all the trimmings to every interested resident.

The wind and rain on Thanksgiving morning did not deter 19 volunteers from gathering outside the high school’s commercial kitchen. As requested, they were wearing masks and slathered in hand sanitizer. Ranging in age from five to 80-plus years young, and including seven members of the IEH staff, the volunteers delivered more than 110 warm meals on their designated routes.

I am very grateful for everyone’s generosity of time and spirit; it truly felt like Thanksgiving.

Simone DeSorcy

Vineyard Haven