The student of Vineyard history, at least such history as has been published, will recognize the fact that it was largely through the clergy that things were accomplished during the first hundred
Sarah Crittenden owns Ghost Island Farm in West Tisbury with Rusty Gordon, her partner in life and work.
“We’ve been together since dirt was invented,” she said.
Ghost Island Farm is coming up on its ninth year. The farm stand is a small operation but packed with produce year-round. It is open to everyone but also utilizes a member system where customers pay a lump sum up front and receive a discount. The up-front money is essential for the farmers to plan and plant crops.
Andrew Berry is a captain of the Chappy Ferry.
Four years ago he retired from his possition as assistant principal at the regional high school.
“The ferry is like water or electricity,” he said. “It’s an essential service for people that live on Chappy. You have to get everything from groceries to emergency vehicles over there. It’s essential we keep it running.”
Danielle Light is a fifth grade math teacher at the Oak Bluffs School. She is also a parent of a third grader and a fifth grader, and so is seeing both sides of the homeschooling equation.
As a teacher she helped create an online curriculum for her students. As a parent she is incredibly appreciative of the work her colleagues have done for her children.
“I feel like the way the information is being provided to them is so age-appropriate and user-friendly,” she said.
Jack Ryan lives in Oak Bluffs and works at the West Tisbury post office. Each morning he takes the Vineyard Transit Authority bus to work.
“Normally there are some teachers and students and people who work at Cronig’s on the bus with me,” he said. “But now I’m the only one.”
Mr. Ryan was worked at the West Tisbury post office for five years, and the Vineyard Haven post office for two years before that. The postal service is one of the few businesses running regular hours and in close contact with the public. Mr. Ryan said there are protocols in place.
Lauren Gray lives in Edgartown and ordinarily her title at work is education support staff for the sixth grade at the West Tisbury School.
Now she is The Lunch Runner.
“I take the lunch from inside the cafeteria to the cars outside when they come to pick up their lunch,” she said.
Pickup is everyday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., at all the schools around the Island. Students can get both their breakfast and lunch during those hours, Ms. Gray added.
The Rev. Cathlin Baker is pastor for the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury.
On Sunday, she held a traditional service for church members from a non-traditional location: her home. She opened the virtual service with an extravagant welcome and lifted up prayers and concerns congregants had sent in by email the day before.
“What I was trying to focus on Sunday was reducing anxiety . . . how to keep that anxiety at a distance, though there is a healthy dose of it we all need now,” she said. “We did some guided meditations to offer prayers of protection and peace.”
