Health Imperatives won a $374,000 grant to address hunger, health disparities and the Island’s severe under-enrollment in a nutrition program for women, infants and children.

Martha’s Vineyard is getting hungrier, say organizers and volunteers with agencies providing food to those in need.

People on Martha’s Vineyard are receiving food aid in numbers that local agencies have never seen before. In January the Island Food Pantry served more than 1,000 Vineyard residents.

Now in its second year, the Food Equity Network, an affiliation of business and community leaders, is looking at ways to help Island seniors stay well fed.

The 27th annual Martha’s Vineyard CROP Walk begins at 2 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven, with registration starting at 1:15 p.m.

For five weeks this summer, hundreds of Martha’s Vineyard children had a place to eat lunch for free.

The campaign against hunger on Martha’s Vineyard has mobilized chefs, business owners, social service agencies and community activists.

On Thursday afternoon, Noli Taylor of Island Grown Schools gathered about 35 like-minded Islanders in the parish hall at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church to begin planning a local summer food service program for kids 18 and younger.

On Martha’s Vineyard, the hungry children are hard to see. But they’re here, hundreds of them, in every Vineyard town and school.

Although not always visible, hunger is a part of daily life for many Vineyarders. A broad coalition has formed to address the problem.