Social Action Corner

Current Notices and Announcements

Helping the Hungry
The Vineyard Committee on Hunger runs two programs helping families in need on the Island:
  • Serving Hands operates monthly.  It serves the island community in providing food to food insecure families/individuals.  This includes the Island Senior Centers and Center for Living.  Groceries are donated/purchased mainly through the Greater Boston Food Bank, Island Grown Initiative and local grocery stores.
  • Family 2 Family (F2F) is a distribution that happens 3 times a year, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  This distribution provides all the food to make a holiday meal and is funded through monetary donations.  F2F serves 200 families and costs $65 per family.  With rising costs of groceries, they would welcome checks to offset this increase and continue with this program.  Please send check earmarked to Family 2 Family or VCOH P.O. Box 4658, VH, MA 02568.
Legislative Appeal - Prevention of Gun Violence

The tragic and heartbreaking incidence of gun violence and mass shootings has become an all too frequent and shocking event in our country. As part of our collective healing we can take action by reaching out to our representatives and voice our concerns about the mass proliferation of firearms.

Important legislation, H4038 (https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/HD3091 ) that would ban semi-automatic weapons has been reported out of the Safety and Homeland Security Committee and will be going to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

PLEASE write to the House Ways and Means members and the Speaker of the House in support of this legislation and CC your representative. To find your Representative you can click on this link.
Dylan Fernandez (Room 472    (617) 722-2013; Dylan.Fernandes@mahouse.gov) is the State Representative for Martha’s Vineyard (Cape and Islands). 

If you prefer to contact your representative by mail, two versions of a letter for you to print out are linked HERE and here.

Thank you for taking action in support of this important legislation!

Stacy Goldfarb,
Social Action Committee
What We Can Do to Help Ukrainian Refugees  

​Please donate to the Global Tzedakah fund so that we can continue to provide support now and in coming weeks and months. Your donations will be sent to the Joint Distribution Committee for their work with the Ukraine crisis.  Click here to make a donation or send a check to the Hebrew Center (P.O. Box 692, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568) with "Ukraine" in the memo line.

Thanks to your generosity, the Hebrew Center has already sent a check to HIAS for $10,000 to support their work with Ukrainian refugees.
Vineyard Home Safety
If you are over the age of 65 and in need of safety modifications for your home, we may be able to help!  The Healthy Aging Martha's Vineyard Home Safety Modification Program provides grab bars, handrails and other equipment to help keep you safe.  Participants pay on a sliding scale with some installations at no-cost.  For more information contact Cindy Trish, Executive Director, at 508-693-7900 ext 455 or ctrish@hamv.org

​ACTION ALERT: Help Pass the NO HATE Act

We are writing to ask you to urge your congressional representatives to support The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act of 2021. If passed, it will help law enforcement officials track and prevent hate crimes.

TAKE ACTION

This call for action to combat hate and discrimination is not new. Over two months ago at our virtual trip to Washington, we pressed Congress to hold hearings and develop a "comprehensive approach to addressing rising antisemitism." Next, together with a coalition of more than 30 national Jewish communal organizations, we led a letter to Congress highlighting the need to take concrete steps and stand with Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) communities, including those in our own community who identify as Asian Jews, following skyrocketing hate incidents. Now, JFNA is calling on lawmakers to provide the tools needed to address the threat of antisemitism, rising hate crimes against AAPI and the urgent need to protect all at-risk communities through the swift passage of the bipartisan NO HATE Act of 2021. Join us. 
​Learn more here.