Mittens, snow boots, pajamas, winter coats and toys would be hard to come by for some of Martha’s Vineyard’s neediest families, if not for the Red Stocking Fund.
The basement hall at St. Augustine's might well be Santa’s workshop this week, except that Santa is in this case a group of dedicated volunteers with one goal: provide children in need with gifts for Christmas. This year, more than 300 children will receive gifts through the Red Stocking Fund.
A large green binder rested on Lorraine Clark’s kitchen counter this week, the pages filled with requests for bicycles, toys, books, art supplies and blankets.
"Christmas was about getting nothing," she says in
clipped Yankee cadence. Lorraine Beaucaire Clark's family did not
speak English when they came from Portugal; her great-uncle, a Chilmark
resident for 55 years,speaks only Portuguese.
More than a decade ago Ida (Buzzy) Gardner wrote a story about a
woman who brought small toys to young children on Martha's
Vineyard. The Santa Claus Lady was her name, and as the story goes she
"brought Christmas in tiny packages wrapped in odd pieces of paper
tightly tied with bits of ribbon."
