We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of good wishes on announcing our “retirement” from the Dragonfly Fine Arts Gallery as of Oct. 7. Many wonderful people have touched our lives here during the past five years: artists, clients, visitors, other gallery owners, friends and so many others.

Alvin Eisenman was truly a gentleman and a scholar. I was one of his students in the graphic design program at Yale; he and the distinguished group of leading professionals he gathered together to form the program’s faculty guided me and my fellow classmates into the world of design and opened ways of seeing, organizing and communicating that informed my 45-year career in graphic design — and continue to inspire and direct my outlook on the world.

What a summer this has been. I haven’t lived on the Island long enough to remember the old Vineyard, but surely it wasn’t like this.

Last Wednesday, Sept. 4, my husband and I were drifting seaward from the outer harbor in our disabled sailboat. We had to take down our sails and had no motor. The wind was blowing so hard that our cries for help could not be heard by two passing boats.

The Yard expands its reach in the community with special performances aimed to raise awareness of food insecurity and hunger on the Island and beyond. This weekend the Yard in Chilmark presents and puppet theatre with a cause. Who’s Hungry? employs the talents of Dan Froot and Dan Hurlin as they weave together dance, music, puppetry and text sharing testimonies of five Americans facing food insecurity. According to the Yard’s press information, in Massachusetts the food insecurity rate has risen by more than 43 per cent since the start of the 2008 recession.

Renaissance House in Oak Bluffs will once again nurture the writer within as they host a series of writers’ salons this fall on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Tonight, Sept. 17, features Tom Dresser author of Women of Martha’s Vineyard, among other local historical books. Priscilla Douglas, a life coach and author of Getting There and Staying There, brings her skills to the salon on Oct. 1.

The programs are free and open to all.

Renaissance House is located at 31 Pennacook avenue in Oak Bluffs. Call 917-747-0367 or visit renaissance-house-harlem.com.

The Edgartown Lighthouse Children’s Memorial is a way to keep alive the memory of children who have died. Each year the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, steward of the lighthouse, sponsors a Children’s Memorial Ceremony of Remembrance for family and friends of the children memorialized in the cobblestones at the lighthouse. There are currently 615 stones in the memorial, which was first constructed in 2001.

A Saturday morning community drop-in meditation program begins this Saturday, Sept. 21, at the YMCA. Additional sessions are on Nov. 16 and Dec. 14, each one running from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. This classes are all free and are run by Dr. Elliott Dacher. The first class is entitled Calm Inside, Complex Outside.

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.

The Creative Economy Speaker Series opens Tuesday, Oct. 1, with Lyz Crane of ArtPlace, which is a collaboration of national and regional foundations and agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts. ArtPlace recently selected Vineyard Haven as one of America’s top small town ArtPlaces.