A Starving Artists Show — offering Vineyarders reasonably-priced art as well as a raffle for a signed, framed Ray Ellis print — is one of two imminent fundraisers for a fuel fund to help Edgartown seniors with winter fuel costs.

The art show is Jan. 17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Friends of the Edgartown Council on Aging. Raffle tickets will be $5 for one and $20 for five. The winning ticket will be drawn at the close of the show. Tickets can be purchased at the Anchors on Dagget street in Edgartown any time prior to the show.

The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank Charitable Fund awarded more than $76,000 in grants to local nonprofit organizations and community groups in the past year. With support for programs in the arts, education, community affairs, health care, youth and senior programs, the fund’s grants benefited 45 organizations that contribute to a better quality of life on the Island.

While Methodists once came by the hundreds to worship on Martha’s Vineyard, now they come by the handfuls. The congregation that helped shape the Island’s history is grappling with such declining church membership that three of the four United Methodist congregations on Martha’s Vineyard have voted to consolidate into a single congregation.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association regional council kicked off the automatic external defibrillators for life program with a $500 donation to Martha’s Vineyard VFW Post 9261.

The new program was started to help purchase AEDs for nonprofit organizations that have 25 or more members. At an event at the VFW last summer, a patron suffered a non -fatal cardiac arrest at the post. The post leadership felt that since they have had two previous such events, that they wanted to have an AED on premises. They purchased an AED and started a drive to offset the cost.

Guest chef Robert Lionette is helping the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School to continue its tradition of organizing five-course international dinners in January. Partnering with Zephrus, chef Lionette will prepare foods from two countries for elegant evenings of exquisite, locally grown international menus. Food from Italy features on Saturday, Jan. 17, and food from Mexico will be on Saturday, Jan. 31.

Tomorrow’s 24th annual great chowder contest is about more than a good cup of steaming, milky soup brimming with clams and potatoes. The contest raises money for The Red Stocking Fund.

The event begins at noon tomorrow at the Edgartown Mini Park.

The committee that organizes the event is still deliberating about whether to raise the entry fee above last year’s $5. At press time there still had been no decision.