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
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.”
Gary Robinson is assistant fire chief in Chilmark and emergency management director in Aquinnah.
On Saturday, Mr. Robinson and his team started a mission to sew masks for the hospital. The team has also reached out to other Island organizations like the Hebrew Center and senior centers to widen the scope of the project.
“If we’re going to be housebound for two or three weeks, let’s get into our sense of community and give these people something to do,” Mr. Robinson said.
Jennifer Kleinhenz is a licensed veterinary technician who has worked at Animal Health Care Associates in Edgartown for the past seven years. She lives in Oak Bluffs with her husband, who is an arborist.
“He’s the one in the trees with a chainsaw,” she said.
Between them they have five children.
She has been a vet tech for 20 years and also has a well-established pet-sitting business.
Molly Coogan is store manager and buyer for the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven.
On Monday, following Gov. Charlie Baker’s mandate, the store closed its doors at 2 p.m. for however long is necessary.
Ms Coogan hit the road doing a few last deliveries.
“I took some kids books — Frog and Toad, Ferdinand, some other classics — to a family with little kids, and dropped off the new Emily St. John Mandel novel The Glass Hotel to another customer. It comes out officially tomorrow so she got it early,” she said.
When Gabby Carr was eight years old and the YMCA first opened on the Island she joined the Makos, the Vineyard’s youth swim team.
Juggling, six AP classes, two editorships and volunteer work at the animal shelter, Astoria Hall also creates whimsical pen and ink drawings.
