An Islandwide youth collaborative formed last year to enhance programs for adolescents at risk unveiled plans this week for a new building to house their group.

Kathi Hackett has been with Martha's Vineyard Community Services long enough to have photos of a smiling five-year-old boy who has grown into a handsome 30-year-old man taped to her office wall.

Islanders experiencing mental health and substance abuse crises are expected to benefit from a Martha’s Vineyard Community Services crisis stabilization unit that will be run on hospital grounds. The so-called red house will be renovated to house the program.

The Chicken Alley Art and Collectable Sale is this Sunday, August 17, from 1 to 5 p.m. The sale benefits Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.

Community Services is the largest human services provider on Martha's Vineyard.

Island police and members of the drug treatment community agree that heroin use on the Island is on the rise, along with fatal drug overdoses.

Daybreak Clubhouse, a program of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services that supports the integration of persons diagnosed with mental health conditions into the community, is hosting an open house Monday, Jan. 27.

The day after Christmas can also be a day to de-clutter and renew by bringing boxes of clothes or extra gifts to the Yoga Collective at Island Cohousing on Rock Pond Road in West Tisbury.

She’s had her first 100 days, her first summer — including her first Possible Dreams Auction — and now Martha’s Vineyard Community Services executive director Juliette Fay is settling into the rhythms of year-round Island life. And she has some observations.

“What I’ve learned is that this is a very remarkable community,” Ms. Fay said this week.

When Sandy Pimentel from the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services board of directors called me back in January to ask if I would consider hosting the 2013 Possible Dreams auction, taking up the gavel where legendary humorist Art Buchwald left off, I was completely blown away.