For the Love of It

From The Christmas Instinct by William Caldwell:

Last Friday, after weeks of shopping, wrap ping, packing and fund-raising, Red Stocking joyfully distributed clothing, food and toys to 419 Vineyard children from 274 families. This represented an increase of 43 children over last year. We anticipated this additional need due to the current economy and thankfully we were able to meet it only because of the tremendous generosity of our faithful supporters — Vineyarders, off-Islanders, individuals, businesses, organizations, churches, schools, etc.

FAIR METHODS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Christmas 2010

A small gale lashed the Island early this week, bitterly cold and driven in from the ocean with steady light snow that frosted woods and farm fields and stone walls, turning the Vineyard into a Currier and Ives print overnight, just in time for the winter solstice on Tuesday. Soft, mournful blasts from the Nobska foghorn blew across the Middle Ground, echoing faintly up and down the north shore, somehow more reminiscent of June than December.

The Farm Neck Foundation, an independent charitable corporation created by Farm Neck Golf Club to provide charitable assistance exclusively for the Vineyard, has announced its annual grants for the year 2010. This year’s grants total $44,150. The recipients are:

Island Community Chorus receives $2,000, to help purchase a sound shell.

Options in Education (Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School) receives a $3,000 challenge grant to fund its artist-in-residence, project period and mentorship programs.

A member of the Air Force home on leave has a police officer from the Vineyard to thank for being alive to enjoy this holiday season. On Sunday morning at 3 a.m. Island native and former Oak Bluffs police officer Ryan Lehman pulled Cameron Kaufman from his burning car in Raymond, N.H., with only seconds to spare before the vehicle was swallowed up by the blaze.

Mr. Kaufman is 20 and a resident of Bedford, N.H.

I was touched when I was asked to write this year’s Christmas message for the Vineyard Gazette. Maybe because I didn’t suspect it — my wife, Colleen, and I have been here only about a year, and I know there are other thoughtful voices who might have contributed something wise and wonderful to the great people of the Vineyard at this holy and special time of year, a time so many of us hold so dear, for so many reasons. My heart is glad for it.

Seeking to reassure donors and supporters in the wake of the recent announcement about a deep operating deficit, the president of the board of trustees at The Yard said this week that many hands are now on deck to turn around the problem and stabilize the Chilmark summer dance colony founded by the late Patricia Nanon 36 years ago.

Board president Sarah Jane Hughes said the organization lost a substantial amount of money on its extensive artistic programs this summer.

With Rhode Island Sound now looming as the next frontier for wind development near the Vineyard, the Ocean State’s Gov. Donald Carcieri summed up his state’s energy policy this month with a single phrase: “Spin, baby, spin!”

Imagine a house somewhere on the Island; on the outside it looks just like other homes in the neighborhood, but inside is a different story. A sea of food containers covers the kitchen floor. Empty cereal boxes neatly line the oven. In the garage the only indication of a car is a rusted decal peering out from beneath a mountain of boxes. In the living room a waist-high pile of newspapers dating back three decades looms above a panorama of detritus and endless more unmarked cardboard boxes.