A new laundry center for the Oak Bluffs home for women in transition after experiencing homelessness. Accessible walking paths for residents of the Woodside Village elderly housing community. A tidy donation to the West Tisbury library’s community refrigerator program. The establishment of an after-school science and technology program at the boys and girls club which serves hundreds of Island children.

These are just a few of the programs that will benefit from the annual grant distribution announced this week by the Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation. This year alone, a little over a quarter million dollars will go to more than two dozen community causes large and small.

Often it’s the small things that can make the biggest difference.

Last year the grants focused on helping Islanders cope with the effects of the pandemic, but this year marks a return to the foundation’s mission to back a diversity of Island causes.

The foundation is the Vineyard’s United Way, committed to advancing the common good by mobilizing efforts around community needs such as education, economic diversity, public health and many often-overlooked segments of the population.

Collaboration across nonprofits is a constantly growing theme.

The extraordinary generosity of the Island community is on full display, and with so much turmoil in the world, it’s worth pausing for a moment to thank all who have contributed.