Grants Awarded

The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund with the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard, has awarded $4,863 in grants to 14 Island school teachers representing seven schools on the Vineyard. Since the mini-grant program’s inception in 2010, the bank’s charitable fund has provided about $10,800 to assist and recognize teachers throughout the Vineyard and in Falmouth.

Joins Endowment

Andria Jason has joined the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard as their new foundation manager. She will be handling all administrative responsibilities for the endowment and assisting the board in bringing charitable resources to Island nonprofits and students.

Scholarships Available

The Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard is now accepting applications for its 2012 educational scholarships.

Seventeen scholarship funds are administered by the permanent endowment, which will be awarding scholarships to both high school seniors and Vineyard students currently enrolled in college or graduate school. Last year, $144,300 in scholarships were awarded to 63 Island students, with awards ranging from $500 to $5,000.

The 52nd annual Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count was held on Monday, Jan. 2. The weather was less than ideal. While the temperatures were warm, between 40 and 52 degrees, a westerly wind was brutal, a steady 15-20 miles per hour with frequent gusts up to 35 miles per hour. We recorded 21,787 individuals of 120 species.

By HOLLY NADLER

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Boston funnymen and women, heralded as The Boston Gold Rush of Comedy, arrived on the scene shortly after New York comics showcased at famous clubs such as the Improv and Catch a Rising Star, and Los Angeles comics appeared at the West Coast Improv, the Comedy Club and the Laugh Factory. Boston’s boom of small comedy clubs, some lodged in back rooms in restaurants, produced big stars such as Jay Leno, Louis C.K., Dennis Leary, Janeane Garofalo, and Vineyard habitué Lenny Clark.

On Roll on Super Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday. Tom Brady in the huddle. He steps to the line. Surveys the defensive spread. Audibles a 4-4-50 call and then, right in front of the global audience, the whole team leaves the field, hops a plane and heads to the Vineyard.

Sounds bizarre? Well consider what a 4-4-50 means. Four Grace Church lobster rolls for $50.

Democrats Caucus

Democrats in Edgartown will hold a caucus on Feb. 11 to elect delegates to the Massachusetts Democratic party’s 2012 nominating convention. The meeting begins at 11 a.m. and takes place at the Edgartown Public Library located on North Water street.

All registered Democrats may vote in the caucus. Two delegates and two alternates may be elected at the caucus.

For more information, call Christina Brown at 508-627-5534.

Eat Before Swim

A shark bite never felt so good.

This weekend the YMCA is celebrating all things Mako, the local swim team, of course.

On Saturday, Feb. 4, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. the Y turns into an Italian restaurant with a benefit pasta dinner prepared by Tea Lane Caterers; you supply the Billy Joel.

The cost is $15 for individuals and $45 for a family ticket. Tickets are available at the Y in advance and on the night of the event.

Low-Lying Maldives Subject of Film

On Saturday, Feb. 4, beginning at 5 p.m. the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival is hosting the last installment of its winter film series.

The evening begins at 5 p.m. with a meal by Chris Fischer of Beetlebung Farm cooking up a farm-to-table community meal. There will also be music to dine by plus a series of short films for kids (see featured kid critic for short film reviews).

At 6:30 p.m. the tables are set for feasting again in preparation for the documentary film, The Island President.

When Nat and Pam Benjamin and their two-year-old daughter Jessica sailed into Vineyard Haven Harbor in 1972, Nat wondered aloud to his family, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a boatyard to fix up some of the wrecks around here and maybe build some new boats?”