This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Possible Dreams, Impossible Prices (For Most of Us)

As everyone on the Island this afternoon is well aware, the Possible Dreams Auction is just starting at the Winnetu Oceanside Resort in Katama here on Martha's Vineyard. The Auction is a thirty-odd-year-old Vineyard tradition in support of Martha's Vineyard Community Services, an organization that provides critical services to Islanders coping with health, mental, substance abuse, and poverty issues. The event calls on celebrity and wealthy Island elite to bid on whimsical and cultural events donated by many of the same. Why does the playground of the rich and famous need the support of such generous patrons? From the MVCS website:

On a beautiful Island like Martha’s Vineyard where so many seek pleasure, rest and rejuvenation, it is hard to imagine that residents struggle with the same problems of living experienced in other rural communities.  In reality, the year-round population of 16,000 is one of the poorest in the Commonwealth and has one of the highest incidences of mental health and substance abuse.  With a seasonal economy and a high cost of living, the Vineyard can be a very difficult place to live for those without the emotional, financial, or social resources available to help them cope with personal, health, and family problems. (more)

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The problems are real, and Possible Dreams helps to solve them. But for many of us, a $300 ticket just to attend the Auction dinner and rub elbows is a less-than-possible dream. How can we help?

The list is nearly endless. Islanders have found ways to support each other, the landscape, the culture and even the visitors of this island for as long as the Vineyard has been the Vineyard. There's Camp Jabberwocky, the 100% privately funded camp that brings people with disabilities from across the globe to Martha's Vineyard to enjoy fishing, dining, and artistic events donated by Islanders of every walk of life for sixty years. There's the Red Stocking that has been providing Christmas stockings filled with toys and gifts to Island children in need for seventy years, powered solely on donations of time and money from community members. There's the 275 people who turned out last year to collect trash on Island beaches with the Vineyard Conservation Society.  Then there's the $50,000 raised by locals this winter alone to support the Island father of three battling cancer. The generosity that fuels these and so many other community initiatives doesn't come in the form of $1 million or even $10,000 checks. It comes in twenty dollar bills, free meals at a local pub, and offers of rides, services, and materials. 

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In the end, even grand events like the Possible Dreams auction wouldn't be possible without the whole community of donors, volunteers, workers, and patrons. And here's my shameless self-promotion: I hope that Tisbury Turkey can similarly harness the widespread community devoted to preserving this great Island. If all of us--businesses, tourists, residents, and summer folk alike--shopped through Tisbury Turkey, how much money could we raise without spending an extra dime? Check us out. You'll be surprised at how much a few clicks can matter.

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