Getting Thanksgiving dinner on the table has been more expensive for everyone this year, and particularly so for Vineyard food charities, which are feeling the pincer grip of inflation and supply chain shortages.
For many seasonal travelers, Martha’s Vineyard appears the epitome of an affluent Island, but many Islanders face a growing food insecurity made more dire by record inflation and a worldwide pandemic.
Nonprofits that feed hundreds of hungry Islanders every week are facing unprecedented reductions in supplies of groceries, at a time when the need is growing. Staffing shortages at the Greater Boston Food Bank are one issue.
Growing up in Edgartown, what chef Amy Johnson looked forward to most on Christmas Day wasn’t opening presents. “The food was more impressive than the gifts,” she recalled.
At a grand opening Saturday afternoon, leaders at the food pantry and Island Grown Initiative gave tours of the new facility at the Portuguese American Club in Oak Bluffs.
In response to rising demand and space needs, the Island Food Pantry will relocate from its longtime home at the United Methodist stone church to the Portuguese American Club, effective Feb. 22.
