Help needy families enjoy Thanksgiving and a December holiday meal.

The Vineyard Committee on Hunger, Serving Hands and Family to Family along with Reliable Market are working together and asking all who are able to sponsor the cost of one family’s meal. Last year this coalition was able to provide over 120 meals for the Thanksgiving and December holidays.

The Island Affordable Housing Fund announced this week that Alan Wiener, a seasonal resident of Edgartown, has joined its board of directors.

Mr. Wiener is the group head of New York-based Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital, a company which specializes in government-sponsored enterprise financing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs and Federal Housing Administration-insured financing.

This fall Island dogs have brought home an array of honors from off-Island agility and rally obedience trials. Two teams — Katy Upson and her Scottish terrier, Dundee; and Valerie Becker and her cairn terrier, Toby — completed the requirements for their rally novice title at the South Shore Kennel Club Show at the Barnstable County fairgrounds on Sept. 18. Earning “legs” toward their rally advanced title were Karen Ogden and her Australian shepherd, Nolan, and Susanna Sturgis and her Alaskan malamute, Travvy.

Promising to enable women to gain financial freedom, find creative fulfillment and enjoy better relationships, Island personal trainer Kimberly Cartwright has created Spiritual Cycling.

This eight-week indoor cycling class for women uses meditation, breath play and guided imagery inspired by renowned psychotherapist Belleruth Naparstek.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

It happens for one day each year. And over the course of 19 years, the Vineyard volunteers who sponsor the annual crop walk have raised over a quarter million dollars to feed the hungry, both here and afar.

Crop Hunger Walk marchers stepped onto the pavement in front St. Augustine’s Church on Sunday on their 20th annual mission, a walk of six and two-thirds miles (ten kilometres).

The Flatbread Pizza Company opened its doors on the Vineyard on July 3. That was just about four months ago. Somehow, in this short span of time, Flatbread has nestled into the community and grown deep roots. To use local terms, it doesn’t feel like a day-tripper, scattered and a bit crazed with the need to do everything for everyone in a matter of hours. Nor does it feel like a summer dink, yet another vacationer, a little more grounded perhaps but still captive to the roving eye. This is my vacation, by God, and I will have fun at all costs!

Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School football coach Don Herman expected his 200th win to be a private accomplishment. “I never mentioned anything to my players,” he said in an interview in his office at the high school on Wednesday. But last Thursday as the coach walked off the practice field he was amused to hear the team break from its huddle. “Two hundred!” they shouted.

Islanders can support the treatment of autism using voice movement therapy by placing an order for an evergreen Christmas wreath at a cost of $12. Each wreath will be delivered to the Island just after Thanksgiving. The sales are through Corinne de Langavant, who is presenting her thesis on autism and voice movement therapy at the YAI Conference on special needs in New York city in May of 2011. The funds wiLL help to defray related costs.

Nstar is set to install nine new poles on Meeting House Way following an affirmative vote by the Edgartown selectmen at their weekly meeting on Monday.

Selectman Art Smadbeck expressed concern about the addition of more overhead lines; the town adopted a policy a few years back requiring all future electricity construction to be done underground.

Making a living from farming or fishing on the Vineyard can prove difficult, especially when money is scarce. But at a meeting on the Island last Friday representatives from the U.S. Farm Service Agency painted a bright picture for Island farmers and fishermen who need a little help to get by.