Every year Armen Hanjian gives a talk to the second graders at the Oak Bluffs School about the Island Food Pantry. One year, a little boy came up and asked him to autograph his hand.

It was another busy year at the Island Food Pantry, a community-wide organization that feeds those in need.

The year proved similar to last year; there were 2,405 visits, which fed 505 family units, including at least 250 children.

Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center is in the midst of its annual Hunger Drive, which supports the Island Food Pantry. During the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays the Hebrew Center distributed empty grocery bags, courtesy of Cronig’s, to all who attended services. Attached to each bag was a note requesting the bag be filled with nonperishable food items.

“Tikkun olam” is a Hebrew phrase meaning to repair or heal the world. On Wednesday, a couple of dozen students from the Hebrew School at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven did their part to make that a reality. They loaded 128 bags of nonperishable food into vehicles to be transported to the Island Food Pantry located a few blocks away at Christ United Methodist Church.

The Island Food Pantry is facing a tough winter. While contributions of food are up this season, Arman Hanjian, the coordinator, is concerned the need will exceed the supply as it has for the past several years.

The cost of food, heat and general living is the highest it has been in recent memory on the Island. For some Vineyarders, that spells trouble. People living on fixed incomes, the underemployed and unemployed face the greatest peril.

The Island Food Pantry, the organization that provides free food for the needy, had its busiest day ever on Wednesday. Seventy-one visitors came for food at the center, in the basement of the Christ United Methodist Church, the stone church in downtown Vineyard Haven.

As the Island suffers the ravages of an increasingly unsteady economy, jobs are evaporating and many families are beginning to feel the squeeze, there has been a surge of interest in the Island Food Pantry. Fortunately, contributions are up, according to Armen Hanjian, coordinator for the Vineyard Haven-based free food program, though harder days may lie ahead.